


An Underestimated Return

by maipigen



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Feelings, Homecoming, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Issues, Kidnapping, Lianne is a bad mother, Veronica Mars has a twin, backup the dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2018-12-22 13:28:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 62,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11968377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maipigen/pseuds/maipigen
Summary: AU. Veronica was taken away from her twin as a baby by Lianne. Now at 16, she's a fully trained CIA agent and she's forced to return to Neptune, to the sister and father she didn't know she had.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go again my lovelies. Also one of my older stories that I've chosen to import to this lovely site. I hope you'll give it a chance despite the unortodox setting. I kinda liked writing this story despite its rather out there plot lines ;)  
> Enjoy!
> 
> P.S. I apologize in advance for the undoubtedly large amount of grammar issues and sentence structuring faults there lies in this. ;)

**Prologue**

"Push, Honey, push!"

"Drop dead, you are not popping watermelons through your nostrils here! I swear, I'll kill you if you don't get _away_ from me!"

Keith Mars looked lovingly down at his panting and sweating wife, Lianne Mars, and caressed her forehead as though she hadn't just told him to get the hell out of her personal space and Lianne soon got other things to worry about, as the first of her daughters were about to enter the world.

Finally!

"Aaaand here she is!"

The doctor held up a screaming lump of something utterly gross and bloody. At least that was what Lianne first thought at the sight of her firstborn.

Keith on the other hand was smiling wide and almost cut of his own fingers in excitement when he was allowed to cut the umbilical cord.

Lianne looked tiredly at him and thought dejectedly, _how did I end up like this - with_ _ **him**_ _? Do I really want to be trapped as a sheriff's wife and never use my own talents again?_

Suddenly, another contraction ended Lianne's chain of thought and she started moaning in agony again. She didn't take pain well - she had a very low threshold for pain. Fortunately for the doctor and Keith, they didn't have to listen to Lianne's complaints and pleas for more drugs much longer because only ten minutes later, Lianne's second daughter entered the world.

 _Is that what's been in my womb for all this time - is that_ it _?_ Lianne mentally asked herself and looked at her husband of several years, who was once again making a complete fool of himself by grinning like an oaf while cutting the umbilical cord.

Keith didn't notice his wife's gloomy looks. He was so caught up in the emotions of finally becoming a parent. The doctor took their twins and checked their health and to Keith's joy nothing was wrong with them except their petite sizes. Well, one was very petite and the other was quite normal.

Keith turned to Lianne as they waited and asked gently, "Don't you want to hold them, Honey?"

Lianne sighed inside herself and with tremendous effort; she managed to turn on a fake smile. "Of course Love, but let's get them cleaned up a bit and make sure they are healthy."

Keith thankfully agreed and Lianne had a chance to think for herself as he couldn't contain his eagerness and followed his children's examination intently with his eyes and left Lianne alone a moment later.

Lianne sighed out loud this time and leaned back into the pillows. She was so disappointed that she almost cried. She had truly hoped that the birth of her children would give her some clear sense of what to do next _. How am I gonna keep my secrets and my lover with those gross sucking machines?_ Lianne tried to get comfortable on the tiny bed that those damn nurses hadn't even tried to clean yet and asked herself: _Would Jake try for a paternity test? No_ , Lianne answered her own question with a headshake, _but his dear wife Celeste might try_.

Lianne rolled her eyes and looked out the window and thoughts of her past began creeping through her head. She had always been an A student with a popular circle of friends. People liked her and asked for help with a lot of stuff. And when Lianne had begun dating the pretty jock Jake Kane, they had become the royal couple to follow _._

 _Well, until Celeste showed her true colors of bitchness_ , Lianne added to with an internal growl. _Now here I am; an underpaid secretary at the Sheriff's department. Married to the boss and as of today I'm nothing more than his breeding cow. What did I do to deserve this?_ Lianne closed her eyes and an inch of fear crawled under her skin, _if Keith ever finds out there's even a chance that the girls aren't his, I'll be ruined. And that's only if he never finds out about the whole "Jake Kane might be the true father" thing as well._

Just as the fear of her husband, whom she knew had a dangerous streak beneath all the politeness, was getting too much for Lianne to handle, Keith walked back into the room with a giant bouquet of flowers and a happy smile.

It was in that exact moment that Lianne knew she was going to leave him and her children behind as soon as possible.

"Congratulations Honey and well done too! You do exceptional work." Keith saluted and leaned down to give Lianne a quick peck on the lips.

Lianne was too exhausted to fake a smile this time and simply said, "Likewise Keith. So have you seen them?"

Keith nodded and a wave of fatherly love entered his entire face as he described them to perfection. He had memorized every little detail about them.

"The firstborn is the biggest. She's got beautiful dark hair and a round and healthy face. Her grip is firm and she seems to be very calm for an infant, because she didn't even give a cry as the nurses changed her." Keith sighed happily at his memory and then his grin widened even more.

"And the other one looks a lot like you, Lee. She's very petite and blond. Her grip is strong too though, and I think she'll be a handful. She screamed and acted like a little diva and made all the other babies cry as well - except her sister. They are wonderful."

Lianne tried to feel happy, she really did, but nothing of what Keith told her gave her an itchy feeling to storm out of the bed to see the twins for herself - on the contrary, she felt even more pressured to leave town as quickly as possible _. What's wrong with me?_ Lianne thought a bit afraid of her own dark thoughts for one brief moment.

Keith, like before, was oblivious to his wife's internal struggle and sat down beside her and looked so lovingly at her, that Lianne almost had to look away."So, what are we gonna call them?" He asked.

Lianne didn't have a clue and looked puzzled for a moment. She was named after her mother, but didn't want to repeat that - especially since she'd decided to leave town in search of greener pastures. "You name one and I'll name the other?" Keith suggested and looked proud of his own idea.

Lianne sighed again and threw out the first name she remembered. "How about Nicole?"

Keith lit up in another smile. "That's pretty, where's that from?"

Lianne told the truth, part of it anyway, "I had a half brother once and his wife was named Nicole - she was really nice and ordinary and well, I like the name."

Keith stood up again and said, "Nicole it is then and as for the little one. She was herself back there and she looked so pure too – like a little angel." Keith looked away with a sheepish smile for a second before he continued. "Don't laugh okay? I always liked the bible story about a legendary saint who wiped Jesus' face and then found an image imprinted on it and me being a semi good detective I like to find things true image, so how about Veronica - true image?"

Lianne almost laughed at her husband's rambling and as the name thing didn't matter to her one bit she agreed to his choice.

Late at night after Keith had returned home to rest up after a very long nine months of having a pregnant wife, Lianne stood out in the hallway at the hospital, looking down at her children. "Why don't I love you like I should?" Lianne mumbled to the drowsy infants.

The big one - Nicole didn't respond to her mother's voice, but the little one, Veronica opened her eyes and didn't look away. Lianne suddenly felt pierced by that look and stood immobile for several minutes.

Then Veronica smiled a toothless smile and something in Lianne's heart finally melted just a little bit. "Well…when I leave," she told her tiny daughter and ignored the now sleeping twin beside Veronica, "I'll take _you_ with me. I promise."

After making that oath, the mother turned around and walked back to her bed to start hatching a plan - Keith Mars was a brilliant man, but Lianne thought herself to be a lot smarter.

_I guess I'll need to ask Jake for some cash…_

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**

* * *


	2. Change Is Gonna Come

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sixteen years later, Veronica learns the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, so okay, seems like people kinda liked the premise of this tale. I'm happy. I can't promise daily updates though, as I'm out doing my best to get a job. That said, I'll still try to update this multiple times a week :D   
> Hopefully, you'll keep enjoying this weird little oldie tale of mine as well.

**Chapter 1: Change Is Gonna Come**

** Rome, Italy. James and Veronica's safe house **

It was Veronica's 16th birthday and she was _loving_ her life. At the moment, she was living in Rome with her Uncle James, or as she liked to call him, Uncle Jay. She went to one of the best schools and had a ton of friends to hang out with. There'd even been a nice boy or two in the mix during their stay. But they weren't living in Rome for fun, no matter how much of it Veronica experienced. 

No, she was on an undercover mission with her Uncle. He was trying his damndest to disable a small local terrorist group, who'd sent out numerous threats to destroy the Vatican.

Veronica ,who, because of her youth, wasn't allowed to go in guns blazing like her uncle was, had to go a different route. Currently, the genius teenaged girl was using her massive amount of talents in acting and observational skills, trying to infiltrate the group through one of the known terrorist's son's.

Things were progressing nicely and Veronica was already itching for her next job, because honestly, she was too smart and too brave to be merely an observer for too long.

 _But I don't have to worry about that right now_ , Veronica thought with an internal smile on the night of her birthday.

Her uncle and she had just finished their dinner – take out lasagna in Rome was really the best meal of all time – and she was sitting down on the floor to open her gifts.

Just as Veronica finished unpacking and admiring her new set of gun holsters, her Uncle Jay cleared his throat and looked a lot more serious than he usually did when he was alone with her.

"What's up Uncle Jay?" Veronica asked as she set her gift aside to focus wholly on her guardian.

Uncle Jay was a tall and muscular man with dark reddish hair and a cleft in his chin that would have made movie stars jealous. He took a deep breath and tried to get more comfortable on the carpeted floor.

"Well, darlin'," he began in his Texan drawl, "I've got a surprise for ya. I'm gettin' older and I've decided that I should focus more on you before you get too old yourself. So this mission is gonna be my last long-term undercover operation."

James didn't wait for Veronica to speak and hurried to continue with a small smile. "I'm finding myself missin' the good ol' US of A, so we're moving back there. When I filed for a replacement, I got myself a promotion of all things – can you believe it? I'm gonna be a desk jockey now, orderin' other people around. It might be boring at first, but I'll manage. This will be good for you Ronnie, you'll finally get a chance to live a nice, typical teenage life."

Veronica scowled and the male looked at his niece with a soft chuckle on his lips and admitted silently to himself, _well, I guess it's too late for her to be any kind of typical._

Veronica didn't speak after her uncle had finished his announcement and he scratched his nose awkwardly before he got up and walked into his bedroom. He emerged soon after with a big beautifully wrapped present in his bulging arms.

James smiled and handed her his last gift.

The love in his eyes and the gift naturally dimmed some of Veronica's initial frustration at his unexpected news and she beamed up at him. "For me? Aww, you shouldn't have."

A moment later, the present was opened and Veronica held a small, wriggly puppy in her arms.

James smiled wider at the sight and said as Veronica removed the giant red bow from the puppy's neck, "Well, I know he ain't that pony you keep on begging me for, but I figured he'd do for a nice compromise."

Veronica smiled and laughed when the little dog vehemently tried to lick her face. "I love him, really. Ponies are so passé anyway."

Her uncle couldn't stop smiling, he was glad to see his niece laugh. Then he glanced at the clock on the wall and sighed. He slowly got back up from the floor and said, "Happy birthday hon. Well, it's been a while since this handsome fellow turned 16, so I'm gonna skedaddle into bed. Goodnight."

Veronica got up and kissed him on the cheek. She watched him leave with a quiet whistle on his lips. Clearly he was pleased that her famous temper hadn't erupted when he'd announced his startling news.

Veronica settled back down on the floor with her new pet and prepared herself for some major thinking.

 _So, he says we'll have a normal life now?_ Veronica huffed. She couldn't deny the fact that she'd gotten a bit scared when her uncle had suddenly announced he was planning on changing her life as she knew it. _From unique to plain ol' ordinary…_

 _That's a scary notion for someone whose life has been special from the very beginning._ Veronica sighed and stood up holding her puppy in her arms and walked into her own bedroom lost in thoughts _, I've been involved in a CIA agent's life since I was a few months old baby due to my caring mommy's lack of love._

Veronica glossed over the thoughts of the mother who'd abandoned her at her uncle's house, because apparently she couldn't handle all the work with a newborn.

Veronica drew the curtains as she briefly remembered how her uncle had described her first few years with him at one time. _I was just a very noisy, wailing and convenient cover story in the beginning. Who'd ever suspect a single dad with a baby?_

Fortunately for Veronica, her quick ability to pick up on things and show a remarkable intelligence had made James begin to train her independently until her skill level turned out to be that of a prodigy. Now, she was a trusted assistant during her uncle's missions and she loved every single minute of it.

Veronica gently put down her birthday present on her bed and began to undress - still contemplating her odd life, _I have traveled around the world all my life and because of that I can speak nine languages. And I can't say that I'm not happy about having had the opportunity to train my martial arts techniques worldwide. Despite my size I'm pretty darn good, if I say so myself._

The blonde couldn't help but chuckle evilly as she crept under her sheets and remembered the very first man, who had underestimated her abilities and then she returned to inwardly sum up her life, it was like she was giving a debriefing about her life _. The thing I'm most proud of though, has to be my talent for the noble art of spying. Telling lies, acting, cheating, deceiving, making observations and infiltrating that is my idea of a good time. Those skills are completely irreplaceable in my day to day life now. Sometimes, I think I wouldn't be able to breathe if I needed to be honest about myself. In all those cover lives I've lived already I somehow lost myself along the way._

Veronica sighed and pulled her sleeping puppy onto her chest and gently rubbed its ears as her mind took her down a darker path, _I never had any real friends growing up. We always completed our mission and moved away as fast as possible, so I never had a chance to build a real friendship. Later on, when I started to help out more, I befriended people just to get into their houses without suspicion. Even my first boyfriend was a fake, but luckily I did like the guy._

Veronica yawned and frowned when her thoughts grew a bit perplexed. _Sometimes I wonder why people trust me so easily; they don't even know my real name and yet they spill everything to me within days. Will I ever be able to form real attachments besides the bond I have with Uncle Jay? But I guess that's the downside of spying in your teens; you get to be the most paranoid person your age_.

Veronica turned on to her side and took out the pendant she wore around her neck and carefully opened it up. Inside was a worn-out picture of Lianne in her teens; it was the only picture James had ever managed to find in his personal items. He didn't even know she'd kept it all those years.

The budding CIA agent rarely thought of her mother, but on her birthday, she always struggled not to wonder, why her mother hadn't kept her or what she was doing now. _Maybe she's being a deadbeat mom to someone else or she's still trying to remember which hillbilly it was that knocked her up in the first place?_

Sighing heavily, Veronica put the picture back in its hiding place – swearing to forget about Lianne until her next birthday.

She was feeling a bit more tired and got more comfortable in her bed. The previous thoughts about her loneliness as a kid already seemed vague and unimportant again. _Somehow that doesn't make me as sad as it used to, I have Uncle Jay and I love the life I live. I certainly don't want it to change…_

Again, Veronica sighed and turned on her other side, allowing the whimpering pup to lie up against her flat belly and finally she made a decision.

"If Uncle wants to go to America and be normal, then I'll just have to follow. He's my only family and I love him."

** Rome, Italy Three months later. Outside Veronica's current school **

Veronica was still going to the local school and was as always fending off the local boys flirtation during one of the recesses.

"Aw guys, you keep trying every day, give up." Veronica said and laughed at the puzzled look in the boys' eyes. Veronica spoke Italian so fluently that everyone thought her to be an Italian despite her Scandinavian looks.

Suddenly, Veronica's cell phone rang and she stiffened for a second, before she pulled it out of her jacket pocket and looked at the caller id with trepidation. This was her private line and only two people had the number; her uncle and his handler David Barns.

Veronica walked a few steps away from the lusting teens and answered quietly. "Not a good time David. I'm trying to get a date to our suspect's house tonight."

David's annoyingly shrill voice ignored her order. "Veronica, go home."

Veronica looked over her shoulder at the group of boys closely eying her – and her backside - and she answered seriously. "As I said not a good time, D."

"BE home in fifteen minutes."

David then hung up and Veronica sighed with annoyance and turned towards the parking lot where her small motorbike was. As she jumped onto it and roared out into the traffic a few moments later, she thought, _an order is an order._

Fourteen minutes later, Veronica entered her apartment and stopped dead. In the darkened living room sat a big shadow that Veronica immediately recognized as David Barns. To her surprise he was alone and holding her uncle's only luxury – a bottle of expensive scotch.

Only the moment she realized he was alone did Veronica let go of the gun in her pocket. She asked with a bit of her irritation shining through in her voice. "Your demand has been fulfilled, Master. Now what?"

David looked at her for a long second and Veronica swallowed down her growing suspicions.

"Your uncle was hurt during the final step of the mission and had to undergo severe surgery in an attempt to save his life." David hesitated briefly before adding quickly, "but I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you that he died about two hours ago."

Veronica simply fell to her knees. She _had_ known the moment David called her. She was too well trained to break down in public. The childish part of her had somehow believed that it wouldn't be real because her uncle had sworn to never leave her behind like her mother had done. Her dog, who she had named Back-up, crawled onto her lap and silently laid down comforting her in her heartbroken grief.

After a few minutes of silence, David sighed and returned to the bottle of scotch and waited while Veronica came to terms with things in her own way.

Veronica couldn't move from her paralyzed state for a very long time. Her grief turned into a wild burning in her heart that made it hard for her to breathe evenly. She couldn't quite understand that she'd never walk into the apartment and be greeted by her uncle's teasing remarks and idiotic Texan sayings.

Finally, she looked up with a somewhat calm face. "What's gonna happen to me now?"

When David looked a bit confused, Veronica elaborated softly. "We were moving. Can I get emancipated and get help to find a decent apartment and then begin working for you as a solo operative?"

David sighed. He was feeling extremely uncomfortable; it was visible even to the shocked Veronica's eyes. A moment later, he held out a letter for her to read.

"The answers you're looking for are in there. Just remember that James truly loved you Veronica." He cautioned hoarsely and drank the last of the whiskey.

Veronica looked down at the sheet of paper in her hands while she prepared herself mentally – knowing it wouldn't be easy to read. But nothing could have prepared her for the words in the letter.

_**Dear Ronnie** _

_**Sorry to fall to a cliché, but if your reading this I'm most likely very much dead and for that I'm sorry. I've written this because there are a few things I can't and won't take with me to my grave.** _

_**First of all you have to know you aren't as alone in the world as you think. You do have a family besides me.** _

_**A father and a twin sister named Nicole.** _

_**Your mother came to me one night when you were a few months old, begging me to care for you and no matter what I've said, I loved you from the first time your baby blues met mine. Still I know that what I did was wrong.** _

_**Here's what I've managed to find out. They live in Neptune California and I had planned to reintroduce you to them slowly when we were going to move, but apparently faith had other plans for us.** _

_**Try and make this news a positive thing honeybun. It'll be good for you to live a normal teenage life with your sister – despite what you feel right now.** _

_**Remember I'll always love you – more than anything in the world** _

_**Please try to forgive me.** _

_**Love Uncle Jay** _

Veronica looked up from the letter. Her initial confusion had transformed into fury and anger was pouring through her eyes as she looked up at her uncle's handler.

David got up from his seat without stumbling an inch. You couldn't see that he'd just tried to swallow his own grief in a bottle. "Veronica, try to remain calm."

The little girl jumped to her feet with an ugly sneer on her face. "I'm _not_ gonna go to this Neptune place and live a spoiled little rich girl life. That's not me! I wanna stay with the Agency, that's what I know."

David ran a hand through his hair and said stonily when Veronica stubbornly turned her back to him. "You're going to live in Neptune until you're at least 18 years old. James made sure of that. In case of his death, we were supposed to make arrangements immediately and we have. Your father has already been notified as we speak. He's expecting you."

Veronica didn't respond, but turned her head a bit as David continued his orders, "Go to school. Finish and work on the side to get more field training. And when you're 18 you will be granted a place at the black ops if you still desire so at that time."

Veronica rolled her eyes. Of course she'd want to join the best of the best.

David added when he saw her eye roll. "Of course you'd only get the job after some more extensive training and a few more exams."

David, his bosses, and _especially_ the now deceased James wanted to make sure that Veronica had tried other things in real life before she committed to a fulltime job at the CIA.

Veronica sighed and bent down to pet the agitated Back-up. _It's a great offer – more than I could have hoped for. It's only two years after all… I'll leave as soon as possible to reach my dream._

"Fine", she said at last and David exhaled a bit, he'd heard horror stories of her temper from James as she'd grown up and he knew that despite her younger years, she wasn't an easy opponent.

Veronica didn't notice his relief. She looked out of the window consumed in thoughts. _As for my so-called family, I'll deal with them as they come. Please don't let my daddy dearest be a total idiot._

** Neptune, California, Mars Investigations **

Keith Mars looked up at the newly arrived man in his office and then glanced through the door behind him and looked at his assistant, who just so happened to be his daughter.

Nicole Mars looked a bit embarrassed and ashamed as she continued her phone call. _Apparently gossip is more important than during one's job._ Keith thought with an annoyed frown between his eyes.

The detective leaned back in his chair and tried to act as though he hadn't a care in the world. "Well, well, well. I'm sorry to say this, but I'm busy so next time Uncle Sam wants to interrupt me during office hours then get an appointment – as of now I'm not available."

The man pretended not to hear his words and simply introduced himself as John Garber.

Keith eyed him closely, _that's a federal agent or I'll buy a toupee. For one thing he's wearing a black suit on a very hot day and secondly his dark glasses scream supposedly inconspiquos person._

If one looked closely – and Keith _always_ did – one could see a gun hidden inside the man's jacket. It was not exactly comforting to know that the stranger was armed.

Keith sighed at the determined face in front of him and decided to get to the point. "Sit down, since it appears that your boss Uncle Sam won't wait another minute."

John Garber sat down and watched the ordinary-looking man. His eyes pierced John like gunfire and the agent now actually understood how that man had been able to bounce back from being fired as sheriff due to having used too many resources in his search for Veronica and then manage to establish and run a very successful detective agency.

Keith had a feeling of John's business. _I'm finally gonna hear more about Veronica. The kidnapped child no one believes I have…_ Keith prepared himself for news – good or bad, he really needed to know after all those years.

John Garber took a deep breath and began the story, he'd been told to give.

Keith couldn't quite believe the tale the man – John Garber was spinning.

Apparently, after being taken away by her mother, Veronica was taken in by Lianne's relative, an ex-CIA agent named James. He had stolen and then destroyed her birth records, which were fairly easy to get a hold of admittedly since corruption ruled in Neptune after all. Then he'd traveled the world with Veronica, but then suddenly he had died of a heart attack. The United States government only found out, because Veronica called in his death and funeral time. Due to her young age they had taken her in and were now offering Keith his precious daughter back.

Of course Keith easily agreed, although he was sure that the story was not entirely truthful. Truth or not, Keith yearned to see his child and his mind was already beginning to prepare all the arrangements he would have to make for her arrival.

_I'm gonna have to make her a bedroom and not to forget; reveal to Nicole that she has a twin sister._

The latter was a thing Keith had chosen not to do until he had unfailing evidence of Veronica's existence. Nicole should not suffer like he'd suffered from Neptune's finest over the years.

Keith leaned back in his chair again and smiled happily. _Life is finally gonna be good again._

John left a few minutes later with an odd feeling of just barely having escaped a bullet.

** Rome, Italy. Airport **

Veronica stood in the airport. Sweat was dripping down her body. It was very hot outside and she was dressed in a small tank top and shorts. While she checked in her luggage Veronica smiled inwardly. Her _special_ baggage traveled with David in his private plane unseen by those pesky security people.

Veronica had been allowed to keep all her instruments and weapons on the condition that no one knew she had it.

It was odd, but Veronica had soon realized that she actually felt a bit naked without her guns, knives, listening and decoding devices and many other gadgets she had collected over the years and used on a regular basis.

As she waited, Veronica erupted into a smile again and thought to herself, _I'll have them back soon enough and then we're never parting again._

When Veronica boarded the plane and settled down in her seat, she recalled David's final orders to her. " _Don't_ tell anyone about our deal or your abilities. And more importantly don't tell anyone, _especially_ your father about your old life with James. Not even to brag about your talents in some popularity pissing contest at your new school."

Veronica sighed at the memory and leaned back in her seat. _At least it is only going to be for two years and then I will be free. And this time I don't have to make up a cover story, this time it's already pre-made and for once it's also partly true._

Veronica settled in and suffered a long annoying plane ride sitting next to a lusting teenage boy, who had his eyes down her top the entire trip.

Eventually, the plane arrived at the San Diego airport. Veronica hurried to find her luggage and what was more important; her beloved dog. Then she turned to look over at the approaching crowd. A few moments later, her eyes found her father for the first time.

He was a medium sized balding man, who looked completely non threatening and Veronica sighed. She repressed a slight pinch of embarrassment over the fact that that man was where she'd gotten half her DNA from.

 _This is almost gonna be too easy – that man will be easy to hide my secrets from_. Veronica comforted herself and tried to find the positives in her new situation as her uncle had taught her to do. _I bet he doesn't even know how to tell a lie without mumbling and looking awkward._

While Veronica was sizing up her father, Keith himself finally spotted his long lost daughter and hurried over to her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug.

"I can't believe you're here, Sweetie. Welcome home!"

Keith mumbled his greeting into Veronica's hair and she stood there unmoving, bearing the breach of personal space and thought with an inwardly groan, _let the show begin…_

**0o0o0**

**TBC...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been brought to my attention that my grammar and stuff is rather bad and I apologize sincerely for that. I'm not a native english speaker so any errors are on my shoulders entirely.   
> If someone with a decent grasp on the english written language and experience (and reliability!) wants to help me, please let me know so I can get it fixed :)
> 
> Hope you liked it and thanks for the comments and kudos!!!


	3. Two Sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole learns about her sister and Veronica 'enjoys' being back home...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and commenting and kudos'ing. It really makes me smile!

 

**Chapter 2: Two Sisters**

**Neptune, California, Mars Investigation's main office.**

The sun was as always shining. The sky was blue and the air-conditioning was working to its fullest. It was the kind of day where people skived off school and work to go to the beach and relax.

 _Some people at least._ Nicole Mars thought sourly, glancing out of the huge window behind her. Then she sighed and went back to filing her nails to perfection. _I couldn't get one day off from this place._ The brunette thought with bitter annoyance. In the next second, she sighed again when the phone started ringing for the hundredth time that afternoon.

Nicole had never really enjoyed working as her father's secretary. _But Keith Mars has to be unlike all the other rich parents in Neptune and be all about earning one's own way in life to build character or whatever._ Nicole thought and slammed her file down on her desk. _That basically means that I need to work for some extra money. It's only because my allowance is pitiful and Daddy is the only one who'll hire me with my lack of experience in anything._

Finally, when she couldn't ignore the sound of the phone any longer, Nicole picked it up. Two minutes later, she'd set up an appointment for a returning client. Apparently this husband cheated too.

 _Why won't she ever learn? She's already been married five times._ Nicole wondered briefly before she lost interest in her job. She returned to her previous pouting and/or nail filing.

  
_My friends never have to work for money and_ , Nicole scowled at the empty room _, they're allowed a heck of a lot more freedom than me!_

Nicole's thoughts travelled to her father's paranoia. She hated his unreasonable curfews and silly rules of conduct. Of course she'd heard the long lived rumors that went around the town. That her dad suffered some kind of nervous breakdown right after her mom skipped town.

 _Well, I can't really call her mom anymore_ , _can I_? Nicole continued with a sarcastic eye roll. _Lianne popped me out of her oven and went right out of my life like she had a train to catch or something._

Nicole sighed and took out her pocket mirror to check the status of her make up. Meanwhile, her mind drifted to her unspoken hurt over her mother's betrayal. _It's not like I could have done something to stop her from leaving me_ , she tried to convince herself. _She didn't want me and left all the work of a newborn at Daddy's doorstep…_

For one short minute, Nicole felt the love for her father grow in gratitude, but then she quickly shook her head. _Don't be an idiot; Daddy loves me and that's his job…_

Seeing as Nicole never was one to dwell on bad memories or heavy thinking for too long, she decided to call her best friend Lilly Kane. They needed to discuss what they were gonna wear to the Casablancas boys' party - trying to lift her spirit again.

And that was why Nicole wasn't really paying much attention to whom entered the office. She only looked up from applying nail polish to her fingers while juggling her conversation with Lilly, when a tall man in a dark, expensive-looking suit walked by her and entered her father's inner office without an appointment.

 _When is he gonna realize that I'm just not cut out for this P.I. stuff_ , Nicole asked inwardly when, a few moments later, she received a very dark look from her father. _Oh well, maybe he'll give up and give me some more allowance instead of forcing me to work here._ She waved sheepishly and returned to her conversation on the phone. _I might as well make the best of it._ She decided and forgot all about the man when Lilly dove into a detailed story of who'd done what with whom without this or that person knowing.

Until about thirty minutes later, when the strange man came out and smirked coldly down at her. It was a small evil smirk that made Nicole's skin crawl. She wondered what that man wanted with Keith, usually his clients weren't so, so… dangerous. _Yeah dangerous is the word_ , Nicole settled on and watched the man leave without a sound. _He makes my skin crawl and he never said one word to me – weird_.

Nicole looked over at her father's closed door. When he didn't appear a minute later, ready to scold her for her obvious disinterest in his business, she sighed and got up from her seat. _If he thinks I'm gonna sit here and stew in fear of his lectures, he's got another thing coming. I'm gonna get this disapproval part of the day out of the way, so I can return to my party plans. This way, everybody wins._ She thought determinedly and walked into Keith's office without knocking.

As soon as she entered her father's office, Nicole froze. The sight of the unshakable Keith at that moment was unbelievable. Not only was henot mad and about o yell at her bad work performance. No. He was actually humming something that sounded suspiciously like an old Disney song.

It freaked the Mars heir out more than the scary, yet stylish, stranger from before ever did.

But, aside from all the weird humming; the thing that made Nicole feel like she was in the Twilight Zone, was the fact that Keith was simply sitting in his chair. He was completely immobile. He was staring happily into space with bright tearful eyes.

 _Okay, I changed my mind_ , Nicole thought as she tried not to panic at the sight in front of her. _That is creepy. Daddy's never ever that happy – he's stoic, not goofy._

Nicole had no idea how long she stood and silently observed her father. He didn't seem to realize she was there. Finally, her already limited patience ran out. She cleared her throat loudly and crossed her arms.

Keith jumped in his seat. That was another thing that was completely uncharacteristic for him to do. He looked up and finally seemed to notice her presence. He blinked away the tears in his eyes and wiped his them without looking embarrassed. After a few more minutes of eerie silence, he looked up and announced, "So, Honey – I've got some really good news."

Nicole frowned and raised an eyebrow. "Really? If you're getting a new wife then _please_ make sure she's got a trust fund I can borrow from. I mean, since your allowance is way beneath the normal level in this town. And you just saw how sucky I am as a secretary. I can't help it, it's so boring and-"

Keith stood up and walked over to her where he then steered her over to the comfortable sofa in the corner of his office. "I won't talk about money or your job right now." He stated when Nicole kept standing in front of the couch. "You better sit down Nikki. It's gonna be a long story and probably a big shock too."

Nicole swallowed and slowly seated herself. She folded her hands in her lap and tried to beat down her childish urge to insist that her allowance be raised. "Go on Daddy."

Keith's happy expression didn't falter as he crouched down in front of Nicole. It stayed happy-looking even as he started telling a wild story about how Nicole's mother had abducted her twin sister, Veronica from the hospital the day of their birth. Neither of them had been seen since. Until now that was.

It would seem as if Veronica had been found and was about to return to Neptune as soon as possible.

Nicole leaned back in her seat. She kept staring down at her father without blinking in a daze. He in return seemed to lose a bit of his glee over his news at her non-reaction. "Honey? Let's talk about this, please."

 _Veronica? What kind of name is Veronica anyway?_ Nicole contemplated with an internal pout. She was a bit angry and confused. Nicole felt lost after Keith's speech. It was like a storm was brewing in the distance. And it was like all the protection she had on hand was a shabby children's life vest to keep from drowning.

Of course, as a kid she had often wished for a sibling, but actually getting one when you're 16 was… unrealistic.  


It wasn't like in the movies. _There's a one in a billion chance of us meeting and instantly connecting. One tiny chance of us becoming best friends within two minutes._ Nicole's breath hitched and she gave herself a mental head slap. _I gotta call Lilly. She's the only one, who's gonna understand and sympathize with me without expecting something in return…_

Nicole's first instinct; to call her best friend, didn't last more than a few seconds before reality set in. She sighed and tried to calm herself, being way more realistic than she usually was. _I can't just spring this on her. This kind of news is too confusing and weird even for Lils._

Nicole bit her lip as she tried to decide on what to do. _I guess, I'll have to wait until I've actually met this long lost sister of mine…And then I'll tell Lilly and she can help me figure something out._

Keith's now frantic voice ripped Nicole out of her plotting and she tried to act nonchalant. "I'm fine Daddy; in fact, I can't wait to meet this Veronica. Now." She added with a fake smile that Keith for once seemed to believe was real. "You can't avoid giving me your credit card because I'm thinking you want me to make a great first impression on her."

Nicole repressed the smirk that threatened to escape her when Keith rolled his eyes with mock exhaustion. He took out his wallet and handed her his holy grail. _Or maybe it's my holy grail_ , Nicole thought, _but who cares – it's mine for the next few hours!_

Nicole quickly kissed her father's cheek and ran from the room. She was so caught up in planning a major spending spree, trying to forget what she'd discovered that she didn't notice when Keith's eyes turned serious as he watched her leave. _Sometimes she really reminds me of Lianne. I hope she'll grow out of that…_  


Then Keith sighed and his good mood returned with a vengeance. He sat down at his desk and began planning things to do before his second child's long awaited arrival.  


The next few days went by in a blur in the Mars household.

Nicole watched in stoic resentment how her father redecorated one of the guest rooms for this Veronica girl. She still hadn't really accepted the whole thing was real yet.  


Of course her bad feelings toward her sister didn't exactly diminish when Keith actually demanded that Nicole did some manual labor and helped out a bit with the preparations.

After several broken nails and a tantrum to rival a two-year old in a supermarket, Keith solved her reluctant behavior by offering a fee for her services. After that Nicole managed to keep her whining to herself. Just barely.  


Then, finally, the day of Veronica's arrival came.

Nicole was woken up way too early by Keith. He stomped into her room, dragging her out of her nice, comfortable bed. He didn't let her go until she was standing bleary-eyed in her bathroom. Then he grinned and ordered her to get ready. "I'll buy us some breakfast at McDonalds or something.  


The dark-haired Mars twin flinched at the very thought of the fast-food chain's sad excuse for breakfast. She briefly contemplated drowning herself in the shower.

Nicole sighed, finished getting ready. She walked out to her father, who at the moment acted like a giddy child. _Well_ , she tried to reason , _he's been pining for his lost kid for years. I guess I could try and be a bit more understanding about things. Eventhough it's majorly hard._

Keith smiled warmly at her when Nicole entered the car. "Let's get this show on the road and bring our new family member home."

After Nicole vetoed the McDonald's idea, she settled on one short stop at Starbucks to get some much needed nutrition. Something told her it was going to be a long day. A small – very small – part of her was reluctantly beginning to look forward to meeting the new arrival. _I just pray to God she'll know the difference between Haute Couture and Catalogue…_

When Keith and Nicole arrived at the airport and made their way to the gate where Veronica would soon appear, Nicole fell back a few feet. She wanted to watch this little newcomer unnoticed by her giddy father.

As the people began exiting the plane, Nicole frowned. She looked every teenage girl over intense focus that she seldom used. There weren't a lot of girls her age and she began to feel a bit anticlimactic _. Maybe this is all some stupid joke?_ She tried to convince herself. Then, Nicole's eyes fell back to her father and she knew that although he was a good actor, he wasn't that good.

  
Suddenly, Nicole's musings were interrupted when Keith catapulted into movement. He all but ran over to a petite blonde and roughly pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

  
Nicole scanned the blonde's features from her safe distance. She felt an unexpected rush of disappointment. _She looks nothing like me. Why couldn't we at least look a bit alike and have that to build something on?_

  
The sight of a bulging, light brown pit bull next to Veronica made Nicole's blood freeze momentarily. She forgot all about her short lived regrets. She'd never been much of a dog person. And that dog looked positively evil in her opinion.

  
Nicole shuddered when she met the beast's gaze and looked back at her father's continued attempt to suffocate her twin sister. _That's odd_. Nicole's eyes narrowed in suspicion when she noticed Veronica's growing discomfort. As she was watching, Veronica flinched ever so slightly.

  
Even though she knew it was childish Nicole smiled. _It seems like Veronica is gonna have something to get used to as well. Like Daddy's compulsive hugging no matter how embarrassing it is._

  
Keith once again interrupted his oldest daughter's thought process when he finally untangled himself from Veronica. He grasped her arm gently, leading her over to meet Nicole.

  
A few seconds later, the two twins stood in front of each other for the first time. They shook hands and mumbled their hellos awkwardly without really looking up from the floor.

  
Nicole's former wave of disappointment returned, but she was not about to admit it out loud. After finally meeting Veronica, she knew they weren't going connect instantly like she'd heard from some other twins reunited. _Well, like I saw on Oprah anyway_. She amended silently.

  
After their uncomfortable meet and greet, Keith took charge and led his girls back out to his car. On the way Nicole eyed the shorter female next to her. _It's almost unnatural how calm she acts. She seems emotionless. Is she really a robot?_ Nicole shrugged away her thoughts and took out her cell phone to check for messages from Lilly.

  
_At least_ , Nicole thought, _texting Lilly is bound to be easier than trying to act all happy and welcoming towards a sister that seems as reluctant to be in Neptune as I am to have her here._

  
Veronica didn't speak much. She just answered a few questions from Keith with as few words as she could get away with and patted her hideous dog every once in awhile.

  


Nicole already hated that dog. It growled at her every time she looked too closely at his mistress. Finally, Nicole sighed. She decided to pause in her judgment of her twin until she could mull it over in the privacy of her own room. With the door locked to prevent said dog from even entering.

  


**Neptune California,Veronica's room**  


_We've only just arrived from the airport and I am already itching to get the hell out of here_. Veronica thought, pacing back and forth in her new room like a maniac. _Well, if I can even call it a room, it's more like a freaking suite!_ Veronica still couldn't get used to the size of her new diggs.

Despite the large room and the private bathroom, which was big enough for five people, Veronica already felt like she was being held hostage. Her thoughts strayed momentarily to her father, _and he wants to know everything about me, it's exhausting!_

  
Due to Veronica's upbringing she hated to share personal information. Everything could be used against her at one moment. It was one of the things her uncle had drilled into her from a very young age.

  
Veronica stopped in the middle of the room and groaned softy, running a hand through her hair. _Think about something else_ , she told herself. _Think about how much trouble you can get into just by living in this town_.

  
Once Veronica had found out where she was going to live, she'd done some detailed research before her arrival. One of the main things she'd discovered, was the fact that Neptune seemed to be one of the most corrupt towns in America. Nobody seemed to mind, let alone do anything about it.

  


"How can I relax in a place like this for two freaking years?" She muttered and looked down at Back-up, who looked up at her with his beautiful brown eyes.

  


Veronica smiled and sat down on the floor to embrace him – calming herself down in the process.

  
After a few minutes of silence, Veronica took a deep breath and tried to list her observations so far to the dog. Just like she used to do with her uncle.

  
"Well," she started with a mocking eye roll, "my 'sister' seems like an ordinary teenage girl. That is the only thing I can tell from her physical appearance, because she didn't say anything besides her name. She was _way_ too busy looking down her nose at you, Back-up."

  
Veronica smirked, hugging her dog a bit tighter until he pulled away with a dignified whine of protest. "That girl is definitely afraid of you." She then continued, "I can't see why, really? Why would anyone be scared of my sweet, little attack trained baby?"

  
Even though Veronica joked about Nicole's fear, she still carefully filed the information away for later. After all, maybe the knowledge would come in handy sometime.

  
After her little debriefing to her trusted canine, Veronica got up again and resumed her pacing. She couldn't shake her restlessness.

  
"And what's with this house?" Veronica asked out into thin air and gestured towards the far wall of the room. Rationally, Veronica knew it wasn't an extreme size for a Neptune home. It was two floors, only five bedrooms andthree bathrooms. It was still like the White House to the unaccustomed blonde.

  
She was still a bit stunned after seeing her room for the first time. When Keith had opened the door, Veronica had to tap into all her training to keep from recoiling in disgust. It was bright pink and yellow.

  
Veronica had really wanted to kill somebody with the knife hidden in her backpack, but she'd stomped down the desire and smiled politely up at her beaming father. Luckily he didn't seem to notice her small hesitation when she entered the room.

Now a few hours later, Veronica had finished her mental to-do list. She walked over to her huge bed and sat down gingerly while running everything through her head one final time. She did so in order to distract herself from the agonizing color scheme of the room.

  
_Well, first of all, a redecoration is in order_. Veronica had put that on her list as a number one priority. _Then I'm gonna need to get myself a car and a motorbike._ Veronica smiled at the memory of the bike she'd had in Italy. She'd put it together herself with a little help from James. It was one of her most prized possessions and she still mourned the fact that she hadn't been allowed to take it with her.

  
_But before that can even be thought of, I need to pick up my special luggage and find a place to stash it._ Veronica sighed; the length of her list briefly daunting her. Then she shook her head and continued with renewed energy. _Which reminds me, I'm gonna need some headquarters. Maybe some small apartment where I can hide from those annoying people that I can't keep avoiding._

  
Veronica nodded and patted Back-up absentmindedly while continuing her list. _I also need to find a martial arts dojo. I can't let myself get rusty during these two years. The Agency will expect me to be in top shape if they're gonna give me that job._

  
_Also_ , Veronica reminded herself, _I have one week before school starts, so I need to place my usual equipment before that_. She rarely went somewhere unprepared. Luckily, she didn't have to rely on Keith Mars' money. Her uncle had left her with enough – and should the need arise she would have money to get out of trouble.

  
Veronica chuckled as the memories of how James and her had kept every cent they'd ever gotten from a job. The money that they'd been given during their roles as criminals by other criminals trying to buy them off something or other _. Pretending to be bad guys and taking bribes had some benefits_.

  
When Veronica couldn't think of another thing to add to her list, she started getting ready for bed. The time difference was getting to her. With her thoughts organized and herself clean, she walked back into the room.

  
Although she knew it was a very distant possibility, Veronica quickly scanned the room for bugs as a precaution. When she – as expected – didn't find any, she locked the door and got into her bed. Within moments she was sound asleep.

  
Back-up sniffed the air for a bit, but then decided that investigations of his own would have to wait. He had already been parted from his mistress for too long. He jumped up beside Veronica, snuggled close to her side and within five minutes, his snore was heard throughout the house as he joined her in sleep.

  
**0o0o0**

  
**TBC…**

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still looking for a beta to help me btw ;)


	4. Being Normal And Meeting New People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica tries the whole normal thing and meets two new guys. Keith realizes that he's got two very different kids...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya my friends.   
> Thanks for being awesome! I hope you'll enjoy the newest part of my little tale.

**Chapter Three: Being Normal And Meeting New People.**

 

It was about six in the morning. Logan Echolls was sitting and watching the sunrise at Dog Beach while suffering through a pretty decent hangover. In fact pain was announcing its presence in his skull, like a hammer on an anvil.

 _Make that_ two _hammers_ , Logan added inwardly with a wince and rubbed at his forehead with a trembling hand.

If he remembered correctly, they had celebrated something about there still being a week before school. Logan didn't remember how he got to the party in the first place, but he did remember planning to go surfing with his good friend Dick Casablancas while being drunk of his ass and then having to skip it, because he forgot his surf-board at home. There was no way he'd ever risk going back to Casa de Echolls when his father was home from one of his movie shoots while being under the influence. He may be reckless at times, but Logan was by no means stupid.

 _I guess I must have fallen asleep on the beach after that_. Logan mused silently and sighed out a small chuckle. _And of course Dick and the others took the opportunity to party on somewhere else._

"Great friend-," Logan muttered – now his face bore an impressive-looking scowl at the thought of his so called friends.

When he realized how pathetic he was getting, Logan started to curse himself. _I'm Logan Fucking Echolls,_ he told himself _, and I don't do pathetic!_

A moment later, he almost took back his statement, because he spotted a beautiful sight. The sight did indeed make the rich boy feel pathetic with his hangover still robbing him of any strength.

Logan eyed the beautiful creation before him and bit his lip. _Pathetic or not, I don't need much energy to confirm her hotness._

His dark eyes followed her; a very hot blond girl in tight shorts, which showed off slim, tanned legs. She was running with an ease that he almost envied in his current state. He ignored that and focused on the fact that she was running in his direction and with a dog that looked like it could easily kill a cow and still have room for a small deer.

Logan groaned out loud, falling back in the warm sand, closing his eyes when the piercing sun once again distracted him from his thoughts to remind him of his searing headache.

 _I'll probably scare her off before she'll even talk to me with the way I look right now. I really need to quit drinking so much_ , Logan thought to himself.

Before Logan could swear an internal oath never to drink again, he heard the female's footsteps stop near him. There was a brief silence and then to Logan's surprise he suddenly felt a soft kick in his ribs. The motion did the impossible and increased his hangover.

Logan swallowed a moan and his growing need to throw up, trying to appear just somewhat manly and he was rewarded a second later, when the stranger finally spoke.

"Hey. Are you alive, rich boy?"

Once again Logan fell into his usual nonchalance and lazily sat up, pain be damned. Only after he was upright, did he open his eyes.

Up close the small female was even more stunning and Logan suddenly had trouble breathing. He knew he was in trouble when not only did Lilly Kane _not_ enter his mind to remind him of his sort of love life situation, but when the stranger's face scrunched up in disgust at his appearance and her dog drooled over his 900 dollars shoes and he still thought she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

A long moment went by in silence beforeLogan realized he hadn't answered her question. The realization helped by the mystery girl raising an eyebrow while simultaneously rolling her eyes impatiently.  

"Huh?" was the most intelligent thing Logan could muster with his current state of mind.

"So, you _are_ alive." The female drawled and glanced down at the dog with a fond glint in her eyes before looking back up. "And I thought Back-up here would get new a chew toy. It seems like he digs your shoes."

 _That girl is evil._ The knowledge soared through Logan in a flash and he didn't doubt the statement for a second.

_Making fun of strangers, who's passed out drunk, was a thing no decent person would do, but I have to admit, it is a thing **I** would enjoy doing. And I've probably done it once or twice myself._

Logan laughed inwardly, briefly remembering one time he'd super-glued Dick's newest surfboard to his left foot during one such drunken incident. He smirked and added internally, _decent ain't exactly how my friends or enemies would describe me, so I guess that makes me evil too._

Her voice interrupted his musings on his character a second later. "I bet you have a bad case of the common disease called hangover." The small girl stared down at him disapprovingly for a moment, but then she sighed, reaching down to her dog's collar, which had a small bag tied to it.

A moment later, she'd pulled out two small pills and handed them down to Logan. "Take these, Sir Booze A Lot."

Frozen in suspicion – this _was_ Neptune after all - Logan looked at the girl's outstretched hand for a short while, but then he copied her earlier sigh, muttering, "what the hell," and took the pills and dry swallowed them with a wince.

"Thanks." Logan managed to say after they both stayed immobile for a few minutes, sharing a not exactly comfortable silence. His heart was pounding and he felt sweat dribble down his back, making him feel as disgusting as she seemed to think he was.

 _Maybe she's just poisoned you, you fool_. Logan tried to muster up some energy for some nerves, but somehow he knew it wasn't the case.

Logan narrowed his eyes when his vision blurred unexpectedly. He slowly looked up. The girl stood with the sun in her back and he couldn't make out the features in her face anymore. As she stood there she kind of looked like an angel.

Logan smiled again quickly correcting his thoughts, _well an angel, who specializes in curing hangovers anyway._

"Don't worry about it," the girl smirked after a long minute, finally acknowledging his thanks. Her crooked smirk was last thing Logan saw before allowing himself to pass out and start to recuperate.

Back-up's small nudge to her shin brought Veronica out of her frozen state of mind. She gave a small start and quickly looked around the area to make sure no one had seen her jumpy movement. _I can't believe I did that_ , she thought and ran a hand through her sweat soaked hair. _Got so lost in just looking and then at **him…**_

Veronica rolled her eyes at the sad sight of the sleeping drunk teenager before her. Before she could try to analyze her uncharacteristic interest in a foreign male, she sighed and jogged a few steps away from said male.

A few steps later though, Veronica hesitated and turned back to him, quickly arriving back at his side. Veronica bent down and checked the oblivious boy's pockets. What she found made her want to gag; she looked at the driver's license again and mumbled, "Logan Echolls… son of the worst actor ever."

 _Aaron Echolls_ – Veronica had met the star once at an underground party in Paris where she'd posed as her uncle's very _very_ young arm candy in an attempt to lure out the host, who'd created one of the largest pedophile groups in the world. To add to that, the host had also been supplying massive amount of drugs to be sold at the expensive private schools all over Europe.

Veronica still felt gross every time she remembered Aaron's dark eyes sliding down her young body with an almost feral look in his eyes. Needless to say, her uncle had made damn sure she'd stayed within his reach the entire evening. Not that she'd felt any need to get away from his side at any point of the evening whatsoever.

Sighing to herself at the memories, Veronica returned the wallet to Logan's pocket and jogged away determined to try to act more like a normal person. Still she couldn't help but scold herself a bit. _Why did I give that rich boy those sleeping pills – pills that no ordinary teenage bimbo just happens to have in their dog's collar? And why on earth did I leave a potentially dangerous person unchecked? That's not my thing. I've been taught better than that! Always secure your surroundings – without exceptions…no matter how cute the possible subject is!_

Veronica stopped dead in her tracks, catching her breath as she threw a stick to Back-up and watched him dive into the ocean with obvious relish. The thoughts of Logan's muscles under his tight shirt were particularly hard to suppress, but she managed and continued to reassure herself.

_Remember you need to act normal, girly girl!_ _**Normal** _ _being the key word!_

Having reaffirmed her plan, Veronica whistled for her dog to heel and jogged on, while every few moments mumbling, "normal," in a very determined tone to the bemusement of the few witnesses she passed on her run.

Veronica knew she was very caught up in her habits, but then again she liked it that way. She wasn't ready to let any of her routines and skills go to waste simply because she was forced to be with her newfound family.

**0o0o0**

A half an hour later, Veronica returned to her newest home feeling if not content than at least a little more at ease with her situation.

While she showered, Veronica silently checked off things from her to do list. She'd already rented a small two-bedroom apartment and stored her illegal treasures there. The apartment had a combined living room and kitchen and the bedrooms were small and with some work they'd work their way up to cozy. Veronica had instantly fallen in love with it – even though she had to be careful of nosy neighbors seeing as it was in an apartment complex.

Finished with her shower, Veronica quickly dried herself and put on some fresh clothes, while continuing her internal check list.

To Veronica's delight she'd even managed to find a small dojo where she'd signed up for jiu-jitsu, one of the few martial arts that she'd never had the chance to master from her time with her uncle. "Gotta do _something_ productive for the next two years – and this way I won't show off my skills to my future classmates, it's not _normal_ ," Veronica muttered with a cringe at the now hated word and exited the bathroom at long last.

When Veronica came back downstairs, she heard Keith talking quietly on the phone. She took a deep breath and prepared herself for an unavoidable breakfast conversation with her biological father – a man that Veronica still thought to be a total moron.

"Morning," she greeted with fake cheer and sat down opposite Keith at the table.

He quickly ended his call, looking almost hungrily over at Veronica – to his credit he tried to cover it up with a smile and a greeting of his own a moment later.

"Morning Veronica. I've made breakfast, but I didn't know what you liked so I made a little bit of everything. Take your pick."

Veronica looked at the massive amount of food on the table; there were chocolate pancakes, eggs and sausages, French toast and what appeared to be ordinary buns. She almost snorted when she spotted the cereal; he really had tried to satisfy her.

 _Too bad I hardly ever eat breakfast_ , Veronica thought, she settled for taking a bun and she quickly buttered it and took a bite. It was surprisingly good.

Keith seemed to read her opinion of the food in her face, because he beamed goofily. "Nicole's baked all the bread, she's a real wizard in the kitchen. I'm glad you like it."

Veronica repressed a sudden need to spit out the half chewed bite in her mouth, a little bit afraid that her spoiled twin had somehow poisoned it to get rid of her. With some effort Veronica managed a smile and swallowed her food, setting down the half eaten bun on her plate.

"That was really good – but do you mind if I took a cup of coffee? I'm never really awake before I've had at least two cups."

Keith smiled, handing her the coffeepot.

Veronica filled her cup halfway and grabbed the carton of milk to mix into the bitter drink. Then to her delight, she found some cocoa powder on the table too, which she took a few spoonfuls off and poured into the coffee. Looking around she saw some french toast and took a piece of that and dipped it into the bitter beverage before taking a bite.

The taste of the coffee and cocoa, mixed with the bread was just what Veronica needed and before long she'd finished her odd drink.

Looking up she saw a weird look on Keith's face. "What?" she asked feeling oddly uncomfortable.

Keith grinned and held up his own cup for her to see. "It's just nice to see I'm not the only one in the world, who drinks his coffee that way. Nikki thinks it's disgusting."

Veronica returned the smile halfheartedly, not at all pleased that she shared something with the stranger she now had to refer to as dad.

"So," she began, eager to change the subject, "I kindda need to ask you something."

Keith turned surprisingly serious and Veronica continued. "I was thinking about getting me some wheels. Is there any place in this town where I could find a reasonably priced used car?"

"There's not a lot of places in Neptune where one can buy used cars – recycle hasn't quite reached our town's finest yet."

Keith leaned forward when he saw a glimpse of disdain in his newly found daughter's eyes and continued seriously. "Look, there is one place, but I really don't want you to go there. It's full of bad elements and with you being the former sheriff's child, trust me on this honey, you're not gonna be the most welcomed individual."

Veronica cursed inwardly when she couldn't quite keep the small frown of resentment, Keith's pet name for her caused, away from her face. It was like her acting abilities were slowly diminishing whenever she was around him.

Keith sighed and brought her back to the present. "Look Veronica – let me give you some money. Nikki has an allowance; it's only fair that you have the same."

Veronica quickly debated whether or not to accept the cash. She finally settled on yes, because the whole allowance thing was a _normal_ thing to have. She nodded curtly. "Thanks Keith."

There was a brief flash of hurt in the man's eyes, but he hid it by reaching down to take a piece of toast – avoiding her eyes.

Veronica felt awkward for a second – she knew he wanted nothing more than to be her dad, but it was just too soon to allow the stranger into her heart. _Besides_ , Veronica thought with a quick eye roll, _with all the secrets I have, it's not good to get too attached to this new life._

Nicole's arrival into the kitchen brought an end to the silence between them and Keith said with a half smile on his face. "Well, I thought the two of you would've wanted to share Nicole's car, but," Keith was interrupted at this point by Nicole's cry of anger and the small yelp from Veronica and he understood that Veronica just wasn't a pink convertible kind of gal and he added. " _But_ , I have to get used to you two being individuals, so here's some money Veronica. Go knock yourself out."

Deciding to reward him, Veronica tilted her head while accepting the money and looked thankfully into his eyes, using all of her big blue bambi eyes.

Keith swallowed hard, knowing that he'd have to watch out for that look in the future.

**0o0o0**

A few hours later, Veronica was headed to the place her father had halfway forbidden her to go to in the morning.

Veronica finally reached her destination and sighed. Walking the whole way in the Californian heat wasn't exactly comfortable. _But,_ she thought, _hopefully I'll fullfil my final goal at this place, so it will have been worth the trip._

The place was one with only a slightly legal business occurring. Veronica needed a car and a motorcycle – the latter she had been addicted to after Italy and simply couldn't live without.

As she walked around silently and investigated the prices on the cars and bikes, Veronica already knew that her search would end here no matter how much Keith Mars didn't approve. She missed the bubbling adrenaline in her bloodstream after only being in the USA a couple of days – it wouldn't matter what it took; she'd be driving from this auto shop.

 _I guess I'm just not cut out for a regular life_ , Veronica stated to herself, _I'm never more alive than on a mission_. The teenager smiled somewhat sadly _, however stupid it sounds I'm a teen whose love of her life is her job._

Veronica bent down to tie her shoelaces deep in thought. _Thank God I made David swear to call me on my private cell if they ever needed me. A Peaceful living and this face - that's not a good mix._

Veronica stood back up and walked onwards, soon reaching a large hangar. No sign indicated a car for sale, but something deep in her gut told Veronica that she was at the right place. A heartbeat later, she carefully opened the door to peek inside.

What first caught Veronica's eye were a lot of disjointed cars and tall shelves filled with tires in all shapes and sizes. It was eerily quiet inside and Veronica stepped inside the hangar.

Suddenly she tensed, feeling another person's presence. She looked around, settling into her battle stance, just in case. From somewhere between the many shelves a tattooed Mexican guy of medium size appeared without sound, he stopped short when he spotted her and wiped his greasy hands in a dirty rag.

"Yo, what are you doing here, Blondie? It's not a gallery." The guy looked a bit surprised at her presence and then continued when Veronica didn't respond, "Are you lost, little girl? Let me give you a tip, this ain't Disneyland." He rubbed his shaven head and his eyes traveled down her body.

Veronica almost choked on her rising temper. She knew she was short, but being treated like a ten year old was just plain insulting. Narrowing her blue eyes, Veronica smiled a big fake smile and said in a small childish tone of voice. "I'm like totally here on business, so uhm, like treat me like any other client."

The guy chuckled, recognizing the intelligence behind Veronica's eyes and bowed mockingly. "I'm Weevil and welcome to this humble shop, how may I be at your service Blondie?"

Veronica smiled, feeling a surge of reluctant respect enter her mind, while she answered in her normal tone of voice. "I need a car, something not too flashy, but not from the dark ages either. A dependable car – preferably black."

"So, how'd a cutie such as yourself wander in to this place?" Weevil asked. "It's not exactly a place for the commoners and what not. I gotta check you out, 'cause this place could be a bit more legit and all."

"Well, it's like this," Veronica answered truthfully with a teasing glimpse in her eyes, "I was forbidden to go near this place, so I reckoned this was just what I was looking for." She finished off her tale with a mischievous little smile.

Maybe she needed to lay low for two years, but that didn't mean she needed to pretend to be some goody-two-shoes either. _Being rebellious, doing something Pops won't like equals me_ _acting like a normal teenager_.

Veronica's orders were to act natural. So she did. Sarcasm and acting was Veronica's second nature.

The Weevil guy looked at her with approval. "Hmm, we have something like what you described here…" He guided her through the labyrinth of shelves to another exit from the hangar.

The place looked like a dump, but Veronica noticed a few masked cars in the greasy maze of junk. They finally arrived to a car that Veronica instantly liked; a used, black Le Baron.

"I'll take it," Veronica decided after few moments of thought. "How much it will cost and when will it be ready to pick up?"

"For you, 3000 bucks, I can make it respectable in two days" Weevil smirked "for a price, of course."

Veronica laughed, tilting her head innocently. "I might be blonde, Weevil, but I ain't stupid. There's no way that car is worth that much. I mean I haven't even looked under the hood yet, but I just _know_ there's a few missing parts under there. Reevaluate the prize please."

Weevil laughed, his black eyes lit up at her words. He liked that the tiny girl didn't back down and challenged him right back whenever he tried to take her down a little.

After a few more minutes of intense, but friendly haggling the two teens decided on a reasonable price.

Veronica nodded in satisfaction, but then remembered her other business. "Do you have some lighter transport, like motorbikes?"

Somehow Veronica knew that the mechanic was a biker, it shone from his every pore – so if anyone knew about bikes it would be him, Veronica decided and eyed the boy closely. _He's probably a member of that local PCH gang I read about during my research on the plane. He sure looks tough enough_.

"You new 'round here?" Weevil suddenly asked, bringing Veronica back to reality.

"Yeah, something like that" Veronica did the very useful head tilt once again. "Why are you asking?"

"No reason. Just one question: Do you know how to ride one?" His eyes turned seductive, "A bike that is, Sweetheart."

Veronica smirked at his forward manner, but ignored the many responses she could throw at him and answered his question. "Yeah, I had one for about a year."

"Say, have you ever raced?" Weevil continued with his mysterious questions, now looking almost eager.

Veronica didn't know what to answer; she could bend the truth a little or she could use a common method of avoiding the truth: deny, deny and deny anything unless denying hasn't gotten you anywhere.

But this guy didn't look like a buddy of Keith Mars'. So bended truth it was.

"Yeah, I have a little. It was quite exciting." Truthfully, Veronica had partaken in races on her last solo assignment, as a girlfriend of a known terrorist's son. She even won a lot of 3rd and 2nd places.

"Our club has races every last Friday of the month. If you wanna be in, be at the PCH hideout at 9 pm., the buy in is 200 bucks."

While talking Weevil had found a piece of paper and was now writing the address and directions of the location where she could find what she was looking for.

Veronica got the distinct feeling of being extremely underestimated.

 _Weevil is trying to scam money out of this little blonde. I probably look like an easy win,_ Veronica couldn't quite suppress an evil smirk, _Oh well, maybe I should show my pretty little face and surprise everyone_.

"Thanks," was all what Veronica ended up saying, "I'll think about it. By the way, I forgot to introduce myself. The name is Veronica."

She snatched the piece of paper from Weevil's oil covered hands and made her way out the junkyard without his assistance.

Veronica sighed a bit when she realized that despite her original estimate she wasn't going to avoid another walk. "But," she tried to console herself as she slowly began walking in the direction of her new home, "I'm feeling quite sure that I just got myself my first real friend in Neptune. Yay me."

**0o0o0**

**TBC...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still looking for a beta. It's needed as I'm sure you can all read... :D


	5. A Really Trying Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya. I hope you'll enjoy the next installment of my admittedly crazy tale.

**CHAPTER 4: A Really Trying Day**

The beautiful Kane heiress, queen of Neptune High and all around hottie, stood leaned up against her car thinking deeply.

That was unusual in itself, but the more unusual thing about that picture was that the curved blonde was alone while doing the thinking.

Lilly was for once without her best friend Nicole Mars and without her on and off again boyfriend Logan Echolls – not even her little brother Duncan Kane was around at the moment.

 _These last few days have been so boring_ , Lilly thought while putting a fresh supply of lip-gloss on her full lips, _and God knows I hate being bored more than anything._

Lilly examined her reflection in one of her side view mirrors. Seeing nothing short of her own fabulous self, she kept on pondering. _No, give me some scandal and drama any day._ Lilly was momentarily distracted when eyes caught a glimpse of her childhood friend, who'd just moved to Neptune, Troy Vandergraff.

She smiled flirtatiously when he briefly tore his eyes away from her slim body and met her gaze. His eyes promised to do naughty things if she'd let him. Lilly grinned, shaking her head and turned back to her musings once again. _Well, all right; scandals, drama and boys._

Lilly Kane was not an innocent girl like Nicole. To be truthful; innocent kind of went out of Lilly's vocabulary at the age of eleven. Having always been more developed than her female peers, Lilly had been given quite a lot of leash in regards to her love life. Meaning that although Lilly acknowledged that she kind of had a boyfriend on paper; she also kept a stream of lovers on the side.

Madison Sinclair and Caitlin Ford walked by her, nodding almost timidly in Lilly's direction before getting into their own cars. Lilly acted as though they didn't exist; she was in the middle of freezing the two other blondes out of her close circle, because both females had openly made googly eyes at Logan, admitting without hesitation that they'd love to have him.

Lilly did _not_ tolerate other girl's taking her property. The hypocrisy of that was completely lost on her.

Lilly shrugged off a tiny speck of guilt as her mind turned back to the fact that she wasn't the most loyal of girlfriends. _Well,_ she reasoned, getting into her own car, _it's not like it's really cheating. Logan knows that I've always been more of a free spirit than him._

For once, the internal rationalization didn't work as well as it usually did. Lilly sighed and started the engine. _So what am I supposed to do? Cross my legs and stay with one person? I haven't yet met the man to tie me down and people just have to respect that._ Lilly's frown turned into a naughty smile. _Although, I've been known to be willing to be a bit tied up when it involves a sexual incident._

Lilly grinned at one specific memory and drove slowly out of Neptune High's parking lot. A moment later, her mood turned a bit sour again. "I doubt such a man even exists. No one can have such an all fulfilling love or whatever." Lilly mumbled to herself. "Only Nikki believes that crap."

Thinking of Nicole, Lilly remembered what had originally concerned her and once again fell into deep thoughts. _Nicole's been so elusive these last few days. I need to figure out what that is all about._

Lilly's productive imagination had already spun several possible scenarios. _Maybe she's having an affair_? Lilly laughed it off almost instantly _. Naah little Nikki wouldn't do that. She's always so lovey-dovey with Duncan. It's almost too gross with all their "undying love" and innocent PDA's at school._

Without really aknowledging it out loud, Lilly then turned down the road that would lead her to the Mars estate. She had a determined look on her pretty face. W _ell, I just need to beat the truth out of her. Never before have Nikki kept a secret from me – not for long anyway. I'm Lilly freaking Kane for heaven's sake._

Lilly smiled, she knew she was good at finding out other peoples' secrets. "Maybe it's because I have so many of my own?" Lilly realized as she arrived at the Mars house, pulling into the driveway.

Lilly jumped out of her car and a few seconds after, she had rung the doorbell. To her surprise, it was Keith Mars who answered the door.

 _What's he doing home at this hour_? Lilly wondered, smiling charmingly at her best friend's father. _He's usually working way late and leaves little Nikki home alone and lonely._

"Hi Mister Mars; is Nikki home? I gotta talk to her for a sec."

Keith smiled widely back, nodding as he stepped aside to allow her to enter. "Sure she is Lilly; she's up in her room. Try seeing if you can't cheer her up for me, will you? She's been cooped up inside all day."

Lilly agreed and made her way upstairs. As she walked, she silently thought about the fact that it was Keith Mars' heavy workload and lack of any real home life that was one of the reasons Nicole had become her closest friend. Lilly had known the dark-haired girl ever since early childhood and they connected over the fact that their parents just didn't have enough time for them.

 _Although I gotta admit_ , Lilly said silently standing in front of Nicole's bedroom door, _Keith Mars is by far a better parent then mine ever were – even though he works harder than an ant colony gathering food._

Having been a regular visitor for years, Lilly walked into Nicole's room without knocking. The sight that met her eyes almost made the heiress flinch. Nicole, who was normally such a happy girl, was sitting on her bed sulking as though she'd been denied a dying wish.

At the moment, Nicole was sitting with her sketchbook wide open and various pencils around her on the unmade bed – another aure sign for Lilly about her friend's mood. Nicole always pulled out her paper to sketch when she was feeling down or extremely angry.

 _My over the top cheerfulness is definitely needed pronto_ , Lilly stated and went over to her friend.

"Nicole Mars; just what's going on inside that pretty little head of yours? Is it really that hard to pick up a phone and call for my cheerful presence? 'Cause I'm just saying, if you've got rheumatism, I'm totally gonna install a videophone in here. I can't live without you."

Nicole looked up at Lilly for a moment and then resumed her drawing with a somewhat sadistic smile on her face.

Lilly sighed loudly, but when the drawing girl ignored her yet again, Lilly simply bent down and took the sketchbook from Nicole's hands. Inside was drawn a very attractive girl with multiple arrows in her head.

"Wow, Nikki, is this the new look of the season, 'cause I'm not feeling it. I'm already pierced enough."

Nicole didn't respond and Lilly tried another approach, sitting down next to her now pouting friend. "I didn't know you were all stalkerish like that and then with a _girl_ to boot. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I myself have had a few fantasies about Megan Fox and…"

Nicole snorted, rolled her eyes and gently punched Lilly's shoulder. "Shut up, it's not like that and you know it."

Lilly grinned back, happy that she'd managed to get a smile out of the other girl. "Back to business then; who's the chick? I don't think I've ever seen her around school before."

Now Lilly was genuinely curious and her desire for knowing everything was winning over her desire to comfort the obviously distressed Nicole. Lilly wasn't a bad friend, she simply had gone through a lot of Nicole's pouting moods over the years and was more interested in learning something new.

Hearing Lilly's question, blunt as ever, Nicole laughed a bitter laugh before answering sourly. "Oh that girl? That's nobody really; only my twin sister."

" _What_? Are you serious?!" Every bit of Lilly's attention was now firmly back on her friend.

Nicole answered with a strange gleam in her eyes. "Not _what_ , Lilly, but _who_ … Apparently her name is Veronica," Nicole made a face at the name, "and now she is even living with us because she's got nowhere else to go or something like that. She doesn't even want to be here!"

Nicole seemed to be more out of it than usual during her tantrums and for the first time Lilly was beginning to see why. "You never mentioned you have a sister." The blond couldn't keep a tinge of hurt out of her voice.

"I never knew myself." Nicole sighed, seeing the look of betrayal on Lilly's face. She took a deep breath, preparing to tell the whole story for the first time. How Veronica came to Neptune and more importantly why she was gone in first place.

Nicole could feel her eyes tear up when she mentioned how Lianne had taken her twin and left her behind. _Huh_ , she thought and wiped her eyes with a sniff, _I guess I'm not completely over my abandonment issues after all…_

When she'd finished telling the soap opera like story that was her life, Nicole fell back on the bed with a groan. She could feel Lilly's sympathetic eyes on her, but fortunately the Kane girl didn't voice her pity. Instead she kicked off her Manolo's and plopped down right next to Nicole.

"Hmm, so there's someone who's more scandalous than me…" Lilly smirked placing her head in her hand as she turned on her side to look at Nicole. "I didn't even think it was possible. Maybe that's a sign from above that I gotta watch my throne now. I don't get it though; just why are you so upset about her? It's not like she'll steal your life, and from your description this Veronica is a pretty antisocial and boring kind of gal."

"She is just so ungrateful; it pisses me off!" Nicole shouted in frustration, kicking some of her pencils off the bed in her temper.

"Whatever did she do to get you so fired up, Snow White? And yes, I said Snow White because you're just so innocent." Lilly inquired with amusement, she rarely saw her best friend angry - pouty and moody sure, but downright angry; not so much.

Nicole was usually the calm one, trying her hardest to act mature. Probably so as to not frighten off Duncan, Lilly mused. She on the other hand liked this childish Nicole much more; _there's just no fun in maturity if it doesn't involve sex_.

"Well, Dad and me decorated a room for her," Nicole began to explain, leaving out the part where Keith had had to pay for her services, "and now she's redoing it! Can you imagine the nerve of that girl? We worked so hard to get it done on time too…" Nicole pouted, crossing her arms.

Lilly just laughed.

"What's so funny?" the younger girl snapped and sat up to glare down her nose at the blond.

"Oh, it's just that you sweetie, have a taste many people just wouldn't understand. And even fewer people like your Disney coloring after the age of six." Lilly continued with a raised eyebrow when Nicole was about to interrupt heatedly. "You _do_ realize that I pick up most of your gorgeous outfits by now? You are just too pink and fuzzy sometimes. You tend to forget that only Duncan likes you in that stuff all the time. "

Lilly laughed once more at the offended look in Nicole's eyes. "Now, tell me what you did to that poor room of hers," Lilly was dying to hear _that_ story, and when she did, Lilly almost laughed herself to tears. She didn't care about Nicole's sister one bit, but Lilly was very loyal to her close circle of true friends, _if that pesky blond dares to hurt my best friend, I'm gonna see to it she'll regret it!_

"What's that sister of yours doing now?" Lilly was curious.

"I think she wandered off to somewhere. She's never here, except for sleep or redecoration. Dad says to give her time to adjust, but she is just doing what she wants." Nicole leaned forward and said intently. "I don't even think she sees dad as a parent at all, and I'm more like an annoying dorm mate to her than a sister."

"Well, you certainly _are_ annoying sometimes." Lilly couldn't keep the snarky comments to herself, no matter how much she loved her friend.

Luckily the twinkle in Nicole's eyes told Lilly that she'd not been offended by it and Lilly turned the subject back on to Veronica. "Have you seen what she's done to the room? We could check it out. Go through her stuff while she's out." Lilly tempted with a wicked grin that had gotten more than a few boys in trouble over the years.

"That _is_ a bit unethical," Nicole began biting her lower lip, but then she straightened up, looking determined, "but I don't care at the moment. I just want to know how to communicate with her, because I don't know anything about my twin. That's just too weird for me. It drives me crazy…"

"I got it, don't worry. Let's use some of the things your father tried to teach us when we were kids to sneak in before he notices where we're headed."

Lilly was excited to do something at last and going through her best friend's long lost twin's stuff had a nice dramatic twist to it. _Scandal and drama, babe_ , Lilly thought as Nicole led the way to Veronica's room. _Here I come…_

**0o0o0**

Veronica was heading back to the Mars' house. She had had yet another eventful day. She didn't know whether or not to be disappointed that she hadn't run into that Logan guy on her morning run. At least she could get her car back from Weevil so she'd be able to escape if she needed to.

This time, Veronica had entered the hangar with more confidence. She already knew what to expect from Weevil and wasn't afraid of an ambush. Veronica was sure she hadn't been noticed yet. After a few seconds of silent observations, Weevil appeared out of big pile of old car details with a shit-eating grin on his oil smeared face.

"Hey, Blondie! Here to pick up your car?"

"Yeah. It _is_ ready, isn't it?" Veronica eyed the guy suspiciously. She was sick of using a rental car and she wouldn't be caught dead relaying on the Mars family. _And I'll rather be walking than sharing that pink horror of a car with Nicole._

Putting her dislike of pink convertibles aside, Veronica also didn't want people to judge her based on her last name. She wasn't raised a Mars and she would like to pick her acquaintances and means of transportation herself, not based on her brand new social status and family money.

"Don't stare at me like that, girl. All's like we agreed. Come here." Weevil guided her to a covered car and took the dark dusty cover off shortly after.

Veronica was truly surprised as she inspected her new car; the car she saw a few days ago looked like total junkpile, but now before her eyes stood a black and shiny Le Baron that looked brand new.

"Are you sure this is the same car?" Veronica addressed Weevil with curiosity.

"Of course it is! You know, we don't do crappy jobs. Just because we're not Caucasians, doesn't mean we can't do good work." Veronica felt she had somehow offended the guy with her bluntness.

"That's not what I meant." She hurried to explain and smiled sheepishly over at the fixed up vehicle. "It's just that it looked pretty bad before. I was simply surprised and a bit impressed that you've done so much in such a short time, that's all."

The flattery didn't seem to work to its fullest and Veronica tilted her head with a beaming smile. Weevil shrugged, seemingly not as offended as she'd originally thought. _I guess I'm not the only actor in this town_ , she thought.

Weevil pierced Veronica with his dark stare, letting the silence stretch a bit before finally speaking. "We can't have the lost child of Keith Mars driving some junk on wheels now, can we?" He flashed Veronica a big fake innocent smile.

"Hmm… So, the rumors at last reached Neptune's finest, eh?" Veronica didn't like it one bit. _If I'm easily recognizable, that means I'm vulnerable now. Damn they work fast in this town…_

"Don't worry," Weevil apparently picked up on her mild annoyance, "it's not like everybody can google your picture or whatever. There's just word going around that Keith Mars ain't the crazy lunatic everybody thought him to be. Some people remember the scandal your disappearance caused. Nobody believed in your existence except a few, so now having you here is gonna be big news."

 _Well, it's not like I haven't thought about that_ , Veronica said to herself as she examined her new car, trying to breathe out her disapproval like her uncle had once taught her, _but I still need to come up with a proper solution_.

Veronica sighed as she watched Weevil out of the corner of her eye. _I'm not even sure I really need one – after all, it's not like there's gonna be an article in the local newspaper or a report on the television._ Veronica smiled; _Keith Mars isn't that famous, thank God._

"Thanks for the car. You just made my life a lot easier," was all Veronica chose to say. She jumped in the car feeling tired all of the sudden. _Being Keith's daughter isn't as easy as I thought it was gonna be. These next two years are gonna last forever._

"Hey, Tiny, don't forget about Friday night," Weevil flashed her another big smile. He clearly still hoped to separate her from her money.

 _Maybe, just maybe life here won't be_ too _bad._ Veronica thought to herself. With that thought, she paid Weevil and left with her new ride. She still needed to test its limits after all.

Veronica returned to the present when she finally reached the place she was forced to acknowledge as her home and she parked the Le Baron in the driveway.

She rubbed her eyes tiredly before turning off the engine with a sigh. "And boy did I pay for testing those limits," Veronica muttered.

As soon as she'd been out of the hangar area, Veronica had floored the car and was testing to see how far she could really get the car to go. She was enjoying every second of the speed, she found it so exhilarating and for one split second, Veronica was caught unawares.

The flashing light in her rear-view mirror informed Veronica, that her joyride was gonna be brought to an abrupt end.

A few moments later, Veronica had been pulled over by the local sheriff of all people. She barely contained a frustrated moan as the tall, dark haired man walked over to her.

"Did you know how fast you were going young lady?"

The patronizing tone got on Veronica's nerves, but she tried to swallow it down. She _was_ a professional, she kept reminding herself.

"I'm sorry officer," Veronica played the role of dumb blonde to perfection. Simultaneously taking in every detail of the thirty something man. At first glance, he looked, if not dumb then at least not very smart. The look in his eyes told another story though and Veronica knew she'd have a hard time getting out of a speeding ticket. "I simply didn't realize how fast I was going. I'm sorry."

The sheriff smirked arrogantly, pulling out his pad to give her a ticket. He began scribbling without speaking.

Veronica took a shot. "You see, I am new in this town and I just wanted to get home to my dad, because he's not used to having me out so late yet. I'm Veronica Mars by the way, sorry for the babbling."

The sheriff tensed and briefly met her eyes before looking back down on the paper in his hand. _Interesting_ , Veronica thought, _he seems to know Keith, maybe I can use that._

"Are you gonna give me a ticket? I'll have to tell my dad about it and I just don't want to disappoint him so soon and…" Veronica forced out some tears; a very useful talent she'd discovered during one of her first assignments.

"Look Miss," the sheriff slowly began, putting the notepad away with an audible sigh. "I won't give you a ticket today, so quit acting like a drama queen. I know for a fact that any child of Keith Mars' ain't as stupid as you're acting. Nicole might pull of the dumb and innocent scheme now and then, but even she's got a lot of brains. I'm letting you off for now, but I have no doubt we'll meet again, Miss Mars. I'm Sheriff Lamb by the way. Have a nice day."

Lamb lifted his hat and walked back to his car, leaving a gobsmacked Veronica. _Why is it that everyone is seeing right through me these days?_ She wondered, her irritation growing every second.

After Lamb had disappeared, Veronica hurried over to the guy, who'd promised to prepare her bike. He heightened her irritation by trying to con her for more money, saying he'd need more time.

The guy's goofy smile and the greedy look in his eyes almost made Veronica snap; with effort she reigned in her temper and used the best way she knew how, to get him to listen to her. She slammed the bigger guy into a wall, demanding in no uncertain terms that her motorcycle be ready the following morning.

 _It shouldn't be like that,_ Veronica thought, finally getting out of her new car, _it's not a freaking jungle with all its eat or be eaten crap. It's just one small town, not the Russian mafia for god's sake._

As Veronica made her way into the Mars residence, she tried to justify her actions towards the mechanic. _I have to have the bike before the race, which he damn well knows._ _I need to get used to it – it's suicidal to race with an untested vehicle. And l may be reckless occasionally, but I'm not suicidal._

Veronica smiled a small smile. No, she was more about calculated risks.

As Veronica approached her room, she heard voices and was instantly more alert. For a second, Veronica tried to eavesdrop, but the voices were too muffled. She was redecorating the room and had already put in some precautions. _Too bad I didn't change the lock._

Veronica wondered where Back-up was and why he hadn't stopped the intruders, when she felt her hand being licked by her dog. "Hey boy, who's inside?"

Veronica whispered and Back-up growled quietly.

A sound that sounded like a fit of giggles finally made Veronica snap. She just wanted some peace and quiet and knew just the way to get that. "What do you say, boy? Shall we show these evil intruders some of our true colors? Would you like to chew some fancy shoes?"

Briefly Veronica's mind wandered off to the pretty boy on the beach again, whose shoes Back-up had to see go, but then she caressed the pit bull with a whisper. "Don't worry, _this_ time they're all yours."

Veronica finished her pep talk for Back-up, stood up in all her not so impressive height and banged the door open.

Veronica's attentive gaze saw everything in an instant. A startled Nicole stood with a pair of Veronica's jeans in her hands and another girl Veronica didn't know was standing with a completely carefree expression, which really pissed Veronica off.

"Hello Nicole…Nicole's friend."

The ice dripped of every word and Nicole flinched noticeably.

"So what _are_ you doing here on this fine day, I just gotta ask?"

Back-up was now growling at both girls quite maliciously.

Nicole swallowed – the dog had already taught her some respect on previous encounters and meekly replied. "We were looking for a CD that I lost."

_She's not a great liar._

"And why, may I ask should this mysterious CD be in my room, since I haven't even set up my stereo yet for one thing, and I don't remember borrowing one from you for another."

There was a long awkward pause.

Veronica crossed her arms. "Now please answer me truthfully or my little sweet Back-up here will have brand new- and by the look of it expensive - chew toys."

Back-up looked like he agreed with Veronica wholeheartedly and he slobbered just to make his opinion obvious.

Lilly was not one to back down from confrontation and she decided it was time to take action, turning on her famed Lilly-charm, which worked wonders on both genders; _usually_ anyway.

"Hey, there's no need to overreact. We were just bit curios about you. I'm Lilly Kane by the way, your sister's best friend. No harm done, right?"

Lilly smiled a big flashy smile at Veronica, who stared blankly back at her. This obnoxious girl annoyed her. _Who the hell does she thinks she is? I am not some guy for her to flirt with._

"Lilly, right?" Veronica acted as though she didn't remember that Lilly had introduced herself not one minute earlier. "I don't think that invading my privacy counts as no harm, no foul."

Veronica smiled a scary, malicious smile, which promised great pain and misery to all its receivers. "Back-up, the shoes!" she commanded quietly.

The big dog immediately jumped into action, more than happy to comply.

First, he went after Lilly's new Manola Blanics. She shrieked a very un Lillyish sound, pulled off her shoes and ran down the hallway cursing.

Back-up was chasing her, barking happily. He was having so much fun; at last somebody besides his mistress wanted to play with him.

Veronica smiled a dreamy smile and returned her attention to a stunned Nicole.

"And what are you waiting for? A special invitation or a parade? I could call Back-up back here to play with your Lacosta slippers, before letting him escort you out of _my_ room – _sis_."

Nicole looked at Veronica with disgust and in that moment onlookers would agree they looked like true enemies and nothing like the sisters they were. She left without saying another word with her chin held high.

 _So much for being friendly and normal,_ Veronica thought with a sigh, the pleasure of frightening the girls was already disappearing. _Normal people don't send their attack dogs at their sisters' friends._ Veronica sighed again _. At least Back-up is having fun. Hopefully Daddy-Dearest won't find out about this little incident. It's not like I'm on the guilty side entirely, but it's better to stay off his radar._ Veronica frowned. _Bald and goofy doesn't mean stupid if that Lamb guy was telling the truth. There must be an explanation on how exactly he solves his cases and enough of them to be so wealthy._

Veronica waited two more minutes before whistling for her dog to return, which he did instantly and then she slammed the door, eager to get some much needed rest after a really trying day.

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for any kudos and or comments, I love to see them appear :D 
> 
> Also, again: A beta would be much appreciated if anyone is interested. If not, I admit all the errors are mine - sorry :)


	6. Open Race and The Asian Guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica makes plans with Keith and competes in a race. Logan is more observant than people think. Dick is not...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya my friends :D   
> I hope all is well and you're enjoying your weekend. I am at least and decided to use my good spirit and all that to post a new chapter already. I hope you'll enjoy it.

**Chapter 5: Open Race and The Asian Guy**

The sun was burning down on the mansion, but a steady supply of air conditioning kept the inhabitants from feeling the strangling heat. That didn't mean that the summer weather wasn't appealing, making other activities desirable for one of the people in the big house.

"Hey, dude, let's go surfing." Dick Casablancas was sitting in Logan's stylish bedroom playing video games with him, a thing they had done many times before and would probably be doing a few more times before graduation.

 _Who am I kidding;_ Dick smirked to himself – yet again killing off one of Logan's characters with a manly squeal of delight. _I'm gonna be around this dude forever!"_

Logan Echolls didn't hear a word of Dick's suggestion lost in thought as he was.

To put it simply, Logan was sulking and a pinch of anger kept nagging him as a mental image of the object of his thoughts flared to life, taunting him with her sexy smile and cool eyes.

Lilly Kane.

Logan sighed as the thought of his on and off again girlfriend strayed to the fact that he _knew_ she was hiding something from him.

 _What do I do with her?_ He asked himself, ignoring Dick's yelp of triumph as he brutally slaughtered Logan's other character.

 _I mean, I love her to death; we've been together for ages, but she doesn't seem to feel the same._ Logan leant over to his table and opened his soda, drinking it in one go, still deep in thought. _I just don't want to fight any more... or go through another argument about her cheating on me. I just can't seem to free myself from her._

Logan's sigh turned into a shrug. Even this periodic attack of the sulking was beginning to feel repetitive to him. _It's not like there's another girl I want as much as her…I can't just date the first willing girl in line, like Caitlin Ford. That's just stupid._

 _Speaking of stupid_ , Logan remembered for a second who his current houseguest was, _now I'm stuck here with my oh-not-so smart surf buddy because Duncan's too boring to be around after he hooked up with Nikki._

Nicole Mars wasn't his favorite person, but he tolerated her because of Lilly's feelings and Duncan's puppy dog love for the girl. That left only Dick, the one guy who didn't care what mood Logan was in, as long as he got to whoop his ass in a game.

Logan sighed again, rubbing his forehead tiredly. _Is this really what my life is gonna be? Damn, Mom keeps on trying to drink the Atlantic Ocean and popping more pills than Elvis ever did and Dad…_

Logan cut off that thought before it could manifest into the memories that he fought very hard to suppress. Aaron Echolls was not someone Logan really wanted to think about too much. Logan quickly glanced out of his wide windows and smiled bitterly when he spotted Dick's little brother, Beaver walking aimlessly around, looking extremely bored out there all by himself _. Even Beaver thinks this is lame_.

_Lilly Kane._

The girl just wouldn't leave his mind. _I just want to forget my problems for a while and have fun for Pete's sake._

Logan fell down memory lane with another heavy sigh, not noticing Dick glancing a bit puzzled down at him.

 _Childhood used to be so simple._ _Now it's gone and I gotta grow up and take action_. Logan actually snorted as the next thought crossed his mind. _Where the hell do I begin doing that?_ Logan's chuckle vanished as quickly as it'd arrived. _But things gotta change soon or else I'll lose my mind in this hellhole._

"Dude, are you here? You look like you weren't listening to a word I was saying." Dick's voice finally pulled Logan out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, Dick, I heard all about this babe you met and I bet you rocked her world buddy." Logan decided to just guess. Seven times out of ten it would be that subject – who Dick slept with that night or who was obviously a dyke and so on. The remaining three would most likely revolve around surfing.

"Man, you weren't listening at all. I just told you about the PCH'ers having an open race today."

The words PCH'ers and open race finally managed to get Logan's attention. He, the king of 09'ers never got along with the biker gang's leader, Weevil.

Logan had hated the guy from the first moment he saw him when he was fourteen. The hate hadn't diminished when he caught Lilly flirting with the dude a few years back.

Logan growled to himself. _I never did get any proof, but I'm still certain something went on back then. Besides the dude seems to loathe me too, so it all works out in the end._

"And what about this race interests you so much my dear Dick?" Logan asked with his usual smirk in place. "You still have a party to plan for tomorrow night, don't you?"

Despite himself, Logan was interested in the news, but showing up at that place seemed too reckless even for him. The PCH'ers hated him; they had a war going at school and starting a new term all bruised because he'd stepped over his boundaries wasn't Logan's thing. _Besides if it's bruising I want, I've got Aaron doing that shit without any provocation_. Logan reminded himself barely suppressing a wince at the thought.

"Don't worry about the party. Dickster got it all covered. Beav' is making the arrangements as we speak. Said I'd let him come if he took care of the boring stuff, so that problem is solved." Dick grinned widely. "And it seems like an open race is very rare for the PCH'ers. I found out about it from my buddy I hung out with while I was in LA. He is into all this freaky bike stuff. Never understood the guy quite frankly."

Dick looked pensive for a moment. "But he also said that we are welcome to watch. He's organizing a huge party somewhere at the outskirts of town afterwards. Was boasting that he's gonna win this thing without any competition. I have to see if that's true. Imagine Weevil's look if he loses on his home turf."

The information Dick gave to Logan was piquing the Echolls heir's interest. He'd never heard about an open race in Neptune before. There were rumors going around about an inner club race once a month, but Logan had never had a chance to place a bet on someone. Just privileged people could do that.

And for bikers privileged meant _not_ an 09'er.

"Maybe if we would come with cold cash and talk with that bookie, we could get in and out unharmed." The words left Logan's mouth before he realized that he was already willing to take the risk of a confrontation. Anything to see Eli "Weevil" Navarro get his ass kicked.

**0o0o0**

At the same time that the two infamous 09'ers were debating about a chance to see him be humiliated, Weevil himself was at his grandma's house, busy in her backyard polishing his bike before the race. At that moment in time he was really pissed off.

"The race is turning into some kind of freak show," he muttered angrily, wiping the seat a bit too thoroughly, "all 'cause I couldn't keep my mouth shut about Blondie."

Felix, Weevil's second in command, heard about the tiny blonde looking for some competition and before Weevil had even understood how it had happened, the race was becoming the social event of the year.

"Just 'cause Felix is itching to whoop some 09'er ass, I gotta endure all them people staring at me without being able to do anything about it..." Weevil sighed heavily and polished a bit harder as an outlet for his frustrations.

 _And now that Felix has made this race a freakshow I'm stuck with tons of extra work ahead of me_. Weevil frowned thoughtfully as he went through his internal to-do list. _First off, I need to find a bookie; a trustworthy bookie more importantly._

Weevil snorted at the thought of an honest bookmaker in the town, but knew he'd find one in the nick of time, he always did. He continued with his list. _There's bound to be some unwanted attention from the spoiled side of town, which means the cops are gonna be around too, but they'll just accept a bit on the side, so that's one of the easiest problems to fix._

Finally satisfied with the look of his freshly groomed bike, Weevil straightened up, groaning as his back cracked, before he returned to his brooding. _I just hope there ain't too many rich brats in the actual race, if all those dumbasses show up in the race and lose, there's no way I can keep the peace._

Weevil wiped his dirty hands in an old rag, muttering darkly into thin air. "Some will show up no matter what, I can feel it in my gut." He threw the rag on the doorstep for his nanna to wash. "Let them show," he muttered, feeling himself tense at the thought of actually entertaining his nemesis' for an entire evening.

The thought of being polite – no matter how briefly – to Logan Echolls and his friends brought an ugly sneer to Weevil's face. He cursed in Spanish, letting out his growing anger.

"Eli!"

His grandmother's stern voice echoed out from the kitchen and Weevil apologized sheepishly, forcing himself to relax.

"Look at the silver lining, dog," he said to himself, "even though we all are perfectly happy hating each other's guts – they'll show up just to spite me and that means more cash flowing around. Not a bad way of looking at things, right?"

A little part of Weevil kept cursing inwardly, but it didn't matter – his mind was made up, especially after reminding himself that as an organizer of the whole event he'd get 20 percent of the bookie's profits.

Suddenly, Weevil was distracted from his one sided conversation, when he heard a motorbike pull up in front of his house.

"Not one of the guys' bikes," Weevil determined, concentrating on the unfamiliar engine sound. "Sounds too different." Unable to contain his curiosity, Weevil walked to the front of the house to greet – or possibly remove – the unexpected visitor.

 _No removal necessary_ , Weevil thought as he recognized the petite blonde he was previously cursing over.

"What ya doing here, V?"

Weevil was sure he never mentioned his address to her during their earlier encounters. _She's just full of surprises, ain't she?_

"I heard you made the race open for _everybody_." Veronica frowned at him and looked thoroughly pissed off at that call of judgment from his side.

"That wasn't really me, just some misunderstood rumors and what not." Weevil responded, looking behind her and noticed her new bike. It was a big ass bike that had a paintjob he'd not quite seen before with a fierce looking pony which had blood stains running from its mouth. Suppressing a snort, he smirked. "Quite a ride you have there."

"I try to impress." Veronica gave a small smile, obviously not wanting to go into detail over the unusual picture. "Actually, I'm here on business. I want to participate anonymously." She grinned wickedly. "Don't want Daddy-dearest to hear about my adventures in Neptune. You are the only one who knows what I look like, so if I keep a helmet on at all times, my identity won't be a problem and if somebody asks why I am so… petite; tell them I am Asian guy or something like that. Everyone's racism will probably make swallowing that easy peasy."

This time Weevil snorted, but he stopped immediately when the girl in front of him began to shoot fire through her indigo eyes.

"Hmm… I guess, I could do that, but you will owe me one."

To Weevil's delight the girl in front of him didn't try to wimp out when she heard his conditions. In fact she seemed to embrace his words, straightening up a bit with a cheeky smile on her lips and tilting her head. "I'll only owe you one if you win. Don't forget that part."

Once again, Weevil was reminded why he'd instantly warmed up to the stranger. She was sort of a female him in some aspects and he loved it, already responding to her like she was a long time friend.

"If I hadn't already had it confirmed the other day when we haggled over the car's payment, I'd say you drive a hard bargain." Weevil grinned and added. "But you've got yourself a deal, Shorty."

Neither of them knew it at the time, but it was in that moment they truly began their favor exchanging friendship.

A few minutes later, after a few traded barbs, Eli "Weevil" Navarro watched as Veronica drove off into the distance with a casual expertise that told him that he'd been had. It was obvious that the new girl had more skills than he originally thought and something in his gut told Weevil that his chances of winning the race weren't as high as he'd thought an hour ago.

He cursed loudly at the very thought, apologized to his grandmother again and walked back to his own much more conservative looking bike to finish prepping it.

Every once in a while his grandmother could hear him mutter with a half-amused smirk on his face. "Asian guy my ass."

Veronica hid her bike in her second apartment before taking the Le Baron back to her new family to chill until she could go to the race and hopefully earn some cash.

As she drove up to the mansion, Veronica groaned when she spotted Keith's SUV in the open garage, next to Nicole's pink horror.

 _I bet she's ratted me out to her daddy,_ Veronica made a face. _If he grounds me for sending Back-up at her, I'll just have to be creative when I sneak out tonight. Well, better get it over with…_

The moment she entered the house, Veronica felt her training kick in. She scanned the hallway before going into the huge living room where she could hear Nicole yapping away.

Veronica stopped in the doorway feeling apprehensive when she saw her twin sitting in the plush couch next to a dark haired boy with an innocent look in his eyes. Another quick scan around assured her that Keith wasn't present yet and Veronica calmed down a bit. _Maybe I can avoid him till morning and then he can ground me all he likes._

"Oh it's _you_."

Nicole's less than enthusiastic voice brought Veronica back to the present and she quickly as she looked back at a sour-looking Nicole.

"Can't deny that, now can I?" was the only thing Veronica managed to come up with.

Nicole rolled her eyes, but then seemed to take a deep breath before nodding to the boy next to her. "Whatever. This is Duncan, my boyfriend. Duncan this is my…this is Veronica. Don't worry, she won't be around much."

Veronica raised an eyebrow at the tone in Nicole's voice. For one unexplainable second, she could swear she felt a pang of hurt over Nicole's lack of acknowledgement of their sibling status. "Okay, glad to see you're nice enough for someone to actually date you. Hi Duncan, and bye Duncan."

Veronica shook her head as she made her way to her room. _Okay, that was the daily amount of bitchiness from the twin, now all I've got to do is avoid K-._

As though her thinking of him called to him, Keith appeared silently in front of her in that moment. "Whoa you move stealthily for an old guy," Veronica muttered before realizing she'd probably just insulted her biological father. "I mean, you know, not that you're old or anything-"

Keith grinned, shaking his head at her stuttering. "Don't sweat it, I know to you I'm probably ancient."

Veronica smiled briefly and looked at the door to her room, hoping she'd manage to escape long enough to catch a few hours of sleep.

"I actually wanted to have a word with you." The new serious tone in Keith's voice put Veronica on edge. _I'm totally grounded, damn!_

"Sure, what's up?"

Keith scratched his ear before saying. "I know that you're not used to things around here and I've given you a lot of leash, because you seem responsible enough to have that. I can't help noticing that you and your sister are having some issues and especially after the Back-up incident…"

He trailed off when Veronica's eyes suddenly narrowed. "Did she tell you that I was to blame for everything? Because of course that'd make sense, wouldn't it? Okay, I'll play the game and apologize to her for my dog's misbehavior and go to my room and you'll let me out when I'm not grounded anymore and-"

"Hold up!" Keith raised his hands in a placating manner, halting Veronica's uncharacteristic show of temper. "I wasn't going to ground you or anything of that matter. Unlike with you, I do know my other child. She's a tad dramatic and knowing her – and more importantly Lilly Kane – she had the whole thing coming. The only thing I'm asking you is if you'd consider coming to work with me tomorrow, to see if you'd enjoy that kind of scene. Heaven knows I need a decent secretary, Nikki isn't the most serviceminded employee of mine."

Veronica had trouble keeping her mouth from dropping in surprise. _He's not gonna ground me, even though I sent my dog after Nicole? All he wants is to spend time with me? Why not, then I might be able to nose around and find some info on my fellow townspeople._

"That sounds like fun, I'd be happy to."

Keith's look of pure joy touched something in Veronica's chest that hadn't been alive since her uncle's untimely passing. She hurried to suppress the rising emotion before it could be properly categorized. "Well, if that's all, I'm just gonna grab a few hours of sleep before I'm heading out to meet a new friend."

"Oh? You already met someone?" Keith's eyes pierced through her and Veronica found herself for the first time ever having difficulty lying to someone's face.

"Yeah, err, someone I ran into the other day when I was out running. She was real nice and I'm hoping we'll still be friends when school starts so I won't be totally alone."

 _Bingo,_ Veronica thought with an inwardly smile of satisfaction, _mentioning my supposed loneliness has diverted his attention._

To her surprise though, Keith quickly shook of the pity and was about to ask further questions, but Veronica interrupted with a beaming smile. "So I'll see you in the morning, can't wait, bye."

Veronica walked past her bemused father and all but ran into her bedroom, exhaling a relieved sigh once the door was closed behind her. Back-up was lying on the bed, looking confused at her unusual behavior.

Veronica didn't mind, she smiled tiredly and fell down on the bed next to her pitbull. There was a tingling feeling in the back of her mind and Veronica had the weird feeling that once again she might just have underestimated her father's intelligence.

"Well," she whispered into Back-up's soft fur, "I'll worry about that later, right now I've got to rest so I'll be ready to kick some butt tonight."

**0o0o0**

Later that night, Veronica finally arrived to her destination. She'd arrived last at the start up line, trying to avoid too many suspicious glances. She could hardly recognize the place that she had visited only a few days earlier.

There were numerous small crowds of people all over the place and a lot of sparkling lights were hung in different colors to give the place a more intimate setting.

Looking around and seeing nothing but civilians, Veronica frowned inside her helmet. _I'm surprised that the Sheriff's Department isn't here already_. She thought, remembering the intelligence in Lamb's eyes when he'd pulled her over. _This ain't exactly screaming legal gathering now, is it?_

Veronica sighed realistically, quickly coming to the most obvious conclusion, something she'd been taught to do at an early age by her lecturing uncle. _They probably get a small payoff for not interfering. Maybe they're even betting amongst themselves to supplement their income…_

Veronica couldn't escape the fact that this sudden and larger than usual race was a great opportunity for low-lives of the annoyingly corrupted town to win some extra cash.

Weevil entered her view, distracting Veronica from her ponderings of the criminal mindset. She watched silently as the Latino waved to the crowd with a confident smirk on his face. The other participants did the same and before Veronica was really prepared for it, the race began with a roar that made the ground quiver.

"Damn," she cursed loudly and quickly set off to show these assholes who was the better "man."

Minutes later, Veronica soared gracefully over the finish line, promptly turning her bike around to watch as a highly irritated Weevil came in second only a few seconds after her, cursing loudly enough to be heard by all, even over all the crowds jubilant noise.

"Well, that'll teach them not to mess with the blondes." Veronica mumbled with a grin. A few moments later, she got off her bike to receive the proper salute from the other people present. This time she waved confidently up at the crowd.

Logan was standing hidden in the mass of people, cornered by Dick and he was eying the little winner's form with an intense look in his hazel eyes. "Why," Logan whispered softly to himself, "I'll be damned, she doesn't just hang around the beach."

Oblivious to the fact that she'd just been recognized, Veronica waved one final time to the crowd, shook hands with a grumbling Weevil, who looked a lot less sour than Logan had expected, considering his recent loss.

After the handshake and a few unheard words to Weevil, Veronica returned to her bike, started the engine and drove away – never once taking off the helmet.

Logan watched her disappear into the distance with a small knowing smile on his lips. Next to him he vaguely heard Dick's drunken voice mutter excitedly. "Yo man, that little Asian dude kicked ASS!"

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**

 

* * *


	7. Back To (Drama) School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy the newest installment :D Again, a beta would be nice to have if anyone is interested, but I'll manage without if no one steps up :D
> 
> Thanks for any kudos and/or comments :D

**Chapter Six: Back To (Drama) School**

Veronica woke up when Back-up gave a low growl next to her on the bed. Her senses were instantly alert and her hand was already gripping the handle of her hidden gun under her madras. A second later, she exhaled a loud sigh, hearing just why she's been woken before she'd intended.

"Veronica, get up. Daddy says you made plans or whatever. And keep that psycho dog away from me or else!"

The blonde twin chuckled and let go of the gun before getting up. _Oh yeah, that's right, I made plans to go with my biological father to work. Damn, I hope it's not as boring as I think it's gonna be…_

Thirty minutes later, after a quick shower and an even quicker breakfast, Veronica was sitting next to Keith in his SUV as he took her to his workplace.

He kept glancing over at her with pure happiness in his eyes and Veronica swallowed her irritation. "So," she said and smiled halfheartedly, "what's the plan for today? Following cheating spouses around and catching them in the act, going all Rambo on their behinds?"

Keith laughed, pulling into a parking space in front of a big office building that Veronica recognized from her notes as being his Detective Agency, Mars Investigations.

"Here we are," Keith proclaimed as though Veronica didn't have eyes. He quickly vacated the car, thankfully not noticing the eye roll his daughter couldn't quite repress.

A few minutes later, Veronica had been given the grand tour and had been introduced to the three other detectives in the firm along with their secretaries. One of them was a tall, black haired man with a slick smile, named Vinnie Van Lowe.

Keith's introduction was a little less warm when Vinnie sauntered out from his office to meet Veronica. It didn't surprise her in the least; she already knew from her various background checks that Vinnie, despite his intelligence and good work, had a tendency to hang around some of Neptune's bad elements in his spare time. Apparently some of Keith's sheriff tendencies were still intact and he didn't fully trust the man.

Veronica instantly liked the cocky detective. There was something about him that told Veronica that he, unlike her so called father, wasn't too far away from the greyish area of the moral code.

When she'd met all there was to meet, Keith took her into his main office and pointed over to the outer office desk, explaining that that was Nicole's workplace. Veronica barely suppressed a snort. Try as she might, she just couldn't imagine her twin working for a living.

The day passed quickly and to her surprise, Veronica found herself having to change her opinion of her father's intelligence yet again. _It's like he's a different person now,_ she decided, watching him soothe a spouse, who'd been cheated on. _Maybe, just_ maybe _, he's okay…_

Eventually, Keith got up from his seat and stretched his muscles. "Ah, that's another day done." he exclaimed. "I'm sorry you had to be stuck in the office all day," he continued with a sheepish smile on his face that made him look twenty years younger. "I just didn't think it'd be so interesting for you to keep me company during a stakeout. I mean, Nikki can barely contain her boredom after an hour in the car with me and I didn't want to put you through that, you know."

Veronica nodded, not revealing just how many stakeouts' she'd been on in her day and followed him back out to the SUV and they drove home in amiable silence. Even though she hated to admit it, Veronica had had an okay day.

**0o0o0**

The last few days before the start of school raced past Veronica. She scouted the school beforehand as she'd planned and she finished setting things up in her second apartment. She even managed to have one civil conversation with Nicole. _Well_ , Veronica thought with a grin, _asking her to pass the milk and actually getting it, is_ sort _of a conversation…_

Veronica sighed loudly, almost groaning, when her alarm clock went off, announcing happily that it was finally the day she couldn't escape. "I hate school," she muttered with a small pout on her lips.

Back-up, who was lying in the foot of her bed, simply rolled over on to his back, ignoring her completely. Veronica sighed again, getting up from the bed and prepared to embark on her newest and possibly most exhausting mission yet; real life high school.

An hour later, Veronica was standing up against the kitchen counter finishing a much needed cup of coffee and cocoa mix. Nicole had left already; she'd been picked up by Lilly, who'd refused to enter the Mars house as long as Back-up was present.

Finally, Keith entered the kitchen, looking weary after a long night of paperwork in his office and reminded Veronica that she really shouldn't be late for her first day of school.

With a nod and a twitch of her lips that was supposed to resemble a smile, Veronica exited the Mars household, jumped into the Le Baron and drove off to her new school.

When she pulled into the parking lot to the high school, Veronica rolled her eyes internally. All the cars, with very few exceptions, were high prized show off vehicles. Parking next to a Porsche 911, Veronica quickly grabbed her book bag and walked inside.

After she'd gotten her schedule and been introduced to the Vice principal, a man named Clemmons, who looked more intelligent than she'd initially expected, Veronica walked to her first class, just as the bell rang.

When she finally reached the door to the class, Veronica was suddenly overcome with a wave of nerves. She stopped abruptly, just outside the closed door and took a deep calming breath.

"Are you okay?"

A voice asked from behind her and Veronica spun around, already tensing her muscles in preparation for a fight. When her eyes settled on a tall, black kid with friendly eyes and an even friendlier smile, Veronica relaxed.

"Sure, I'm just new and needed a minute before going in there." She nodded to the door and the guy in front of her smiled.

"Yeah, I'm new too. Couldn't quite figure out where to go though, so that's why I'm late. Good to see I'm not the only one."

Veronica smiled. There was just something about the guy that touched her seldom used heartstrings. "Well, shall we get this over with then? I'm Veronica, by the way."

"Sure, sure. We newbies gotta stick together. I'm Wallace." Wallace stated and reached behind her and opened the door, holding it open for her politely. "Ladies first."

Veronica smiled again, happy that at least someone in that stupid town had some manners, and walked inside to brave her first ever Neptunian class. The teacher quickly introduced them to the other students and Veronica made her way to the closest available seat, noticing that Wallace placed himself next to her with a grin.

 _He's nice_ ; Veronica thought and bent down to take out her note pad _. He seems too innocent to hang around me though. I'll make sure to stay out of his way so he won't lose that innocence by association_.

When the class ended, Veronica was up and out of her seat before Wallace had even gotten to her feet and she killed the tiny fleck of unexpected guilt that flared through her, when she glanced back and saw the lost look in his eyes.

 _It's for the best_ , Veronica decided, walking quickly towards her next class, _he won't be prepared for a friend like me anyhow._

Veronica quickly forgot Wallace and tried to act the part as a mediocre high school student. Having grown up the way she had, Veronica was already way ahead of her peers and she had to stop herself from correcting her Spanish teacher when the woman in question pronounced something completely wrong.

The bell rang before Veronica gave into temptation and she picked up her things and followed the chatting students out of the room. Her stomach growled, reminding her that she'd had not taken proper care of its needs that morning and she swung her bag around to her front, searching for the apple, she always kept in case of emergencies.

Veronica was so caught up in her search that she neglected to notice the growing mass of people around her, but she did hear some whistling and crude comments that brought her back to the present. Looking up, Veronica spotted Wallace in the middle of things. He didn't look the least bit happy at the moment.

 _Well_ , Veronica surmised with a quick scan around the populated quad, _it might just have something to do with him being butt naked, taped to the flag pole all of the sudden._

Spotting a guy climbing up next to the poor kid, readying to take a picture, Veronica acted instinctively. She roughly pushed people out of her way and, within seconds, she was up next to them and her hand had snatched the camera phone before the mocker realized what was going on.

"Ah, ah, ah," Veronica stated, pocketing the phone with a cute smile on her lips. "Didn't your momma teach you any manners, sonny?"

The guy, who had dumb jock written all over him, narrowed his eyes. "Give it back, weirdo. Don't interfere with this." He jerked his head in the naked Wallace's direction and continued lowly. "He's done something to piss of the PCH'ers and probably deserves it. I was just making sure he learns his place."

Veronica nodded, acting as though she completely agreed. The jock smiled widely at her apparent agreement, but then the smile faltered quickly when she leaned forward slightly. "I understand, but let me tell you something; I like this guy, in fact, he's the only one who's been the least bit polite to me all day, therefore I have to warn you that if you don't back off right now, I might just have to break your nose."

"Oh, I so wouldn't do that if I was you." The jock flexed his biceps, trying to intimidate her no doubt.

Veronica barely repressed an eye roll. Having fought and even killed much scarier people than the Wannabe tough guy really made sure that she wasn't the least bit afraid of the much larger boy.

"Really?" she asked, crossing her arms and tilting her head inquiringly, "and why is that, _sweetie_?"

The jock blinked and it was clear to everyone watching that he hadn't expected Veronica to do anything other than run away with her tail between her legs. "I-I'll just have to teach you some respect, that's why." He finally managed to say, earning some cheerful whistles from a group of students that were undoubtedly his friends.

Veronica shook her head, but then straightened up, having had enough of talking. She turned towards Wallace and reached for one of the more demure knives she'd hidden on her person. Just as she'd taken out the weapon, she felt the jock's hand on her arm.

"Don't even think about it, girly!" he squeezed her arm tightly, but Veronica, who'd undergone brutal torture resistance classes, didn't even flinch as she calmly started to cut through the tape around Wallace's body.

The squeeze around her arm turned downright painful and someone called out a derogatory comment about her and finally Veronica's already tried patience snapped. She twisted around faster than the eye could follow and unceremoniously kicked the guy in the crotch, before placing the knife at his throat the moment he fell to his knees with a groan of pain.

"Now," Veronica sounded eerily calm when she had his attention, "I believe, I promised you a broken nose and I never back away from a promise." She threw the knife over her shoulder, where it landed right over Wallace's head with a loud thump, and then slammed her right fist into the unlucky bully's nose.

The guy fell backwards with an unmanly whimper and Veronica turned back to Wallace, who was staring cross-eyed up at the knife that had almost hit him. "You look nervous," Veronica stated as she removed the knife and finished cutting him lose. "Don't be; trust me on this, I've got a lot of practice with knives. I never would have hit you."

Wallace nodded and stepped off the flagpole platform the second Veronica finished her job. He took a few steps away from her, looking as though he didn't know whether to thank her or run away from her and never look back.

Veronica was about to calm him down, when out of the crowd came another group of people. One brief glance in their direction and Veronica recognized them as PCH'ers and she looked closer in an attempt to locate Weevil before things could get worse.

"Whaddya think you're doing, honey?" A guy, Veronica remembered as Felix, said with an arrogant look in his eyes. It looked like he'd never experienced going up against someone stronger than he was.

 _Well_ , Veronica thought, taking a few steps forward, so she shielded Wallace the best she could, _he's about to experience it now._

"Back off, I'm not in the mood for any more fun and games." Veronica's mood was falling fast and in a part of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder where the hell the teachers were. Weren't they supposed to have a handle on these things?

Felix grinned and held up his hands with a dramatic lift of his eyebrows. "Whoa, the little girl doesn't want to play no more. Well," he continued and the humor disappeared completely, "that new kid messed with us and you're interfering with his punishment."

Rolling her eyes, Veronica said coldly, "Well, you're messing with my new friend and I don't like it. Back off. I won't tell you again." As she added the last part, Veronica discreetly lifted her top and revealed the two knives in her waistband.

Felix's eyes widened, before narrowing. "Listen girly, I don't think you know who you're messing with right now. We're no boy scouts, ya know."

"She knows," Weevil's voice sounded as he stepped in-between them, assessing the situation. "And trust me, Felix, this broad don't care. Let's go, we'll deal with New Boy later. Have a nice day, Veronica."

Veronica nodded and watched as Weevil led his friends away, and thus broke the tension. She vaguely heard Felix's words of, "you know that chick?" before turning her attention back on Wallace, who stood immobile where she'd left him.

He looked down at her with a nervous glint in his eyes, but to her relief, she could also spot some gratitude, so she didn't think she'd scared him away completely.

"Now if that's not an interesting first day of school for the newbies, I don't know what is," Veronica said jovially, her mood improving now that the danger was gone.

Wallace smiled briefly and then gestured awkwardly down at his scantily clad body. "I've gotta go home and get me some clothes. Thanks, Veronica."

Veronica flashed a smile and said over her shoulder as she returned to her last class of the day, "Yeah, well; welcome to Neptune, I guess."

Over at the tables, Nicole and Lilly were sitting amongst the other members of the popular crowd. They'd watched Veronica jump up to help cut the new guy lose, getting right in the face of Joss, the most temperamental linebacker their football team had ever seen, and then beat him down as though he was nothing more than an irritating fly.

As though that confrontation wasn't enough, Veronica had promptly faced off against a group of the local biker gang without breaking a sweat before sauntering off like she hadn't a care in the world.

Nicole was flabbergasted and was sitting frozen in Duncan's arms while Lilly was hissing in disbelief next to Logan. Logan, Nicole noticed, had a weird, little smile on his lips as he watched the whole thing.

 _I swear_ , Nicole summarized inwardly, burrowing deeper into Duncan's warm chest, _it looked like he wanted to go over there a few times. It's odd, 'cause he never shows any interests in these kinds of things – Heck, he even initialized them from time to time._

"Nikki!"

Lilly's high pitched voice tore Nicole out of her musings and she looked over at Lilly, who sat next to Logan and Madison Sinclair.

"Did you _see_ that? She's just as crazy as that weirdo dog of hers! She's so not gonna be welcomed here at this table." Lilly continued, now looking superior and smug at the same time.

Nicole nodded in agreement, although there was a small part of her that regretted letting go of an opportunity to bond with her estranged sister. _Well,_ Nicole thought, _it's not like she's even nice and I know she won't give a damn about being popular or not. Lilly decides these things after all and I have to support my best friend._

"Sure, Lilly." Nicole finally muttered and started to get up from the table to her last class. "I've gotta go or I'll be late for class; are you guys coming?"

Everyone nodded, but Logan, who suddenly had a very dark look in his eyes. "Hey, Lilly," he called out before she left with Nicole. "I'm not gonna treat the new girl like crap, just so you know."

Everyone froze. _No one_ , and especially not her on and off again boyfriend, Logan Echolls, ever stood up to Lilly or even attempted to disagree with her decisions.

Lilly slowly turned around to face a still seated Logan. "Ex _cuse_ me, Lover?" her voice was sweet and full of warning.

Logan shrugged, calmly picking up his mountain dew and taking a sip, before answering, "You heard me, Lils."

Lilly paled in fury, her beautiful features didn't diminish, but the look of pure rage wasn't good on her. "Logan, you don't know what you're talking about. Come. Here!" She stomped her foot impatiently.

Logan finally looked over at her, and the look in his eyes, surprised the Kane girl, because to everyone's surprise, she took a step backwards.

The silence stretched on uncomfortably for a few seconds, before Logan got to his feet and stated coldly with his piercing stare solely focused on Lilly. "Contrary to what you seem to believe, Lilly; I'm not a dog and I'm done being treated like one. Sticking around for the scraps you give me when it's clear that all you really want from me is obedience and devotion and nothing else. Well, here's the thing," Logan added, taking a few steps closer to Lilly. "I won't yield to you anymore. I'm my own man, so go be a bitch if you want, Lilly, but don't come running back to me when shit hits the fan. I'm done standing behind you. Particularly when you're gonna alienate a girl, who hasn't even done anything to you. We're done, so you can go screw someone else now."

Everyone held their breaths when Logan closed the last distance between him and Lilly and said in a clear tone, which carried over the entire quad. "Not that being with me ever stopped you from screwing around, did it? Come on, Dick."

Finished with his unexpected tirade, Logan walked out to the parking lot with Dick and surprisingly, Madison Sinclair in tow. Evidently they immediately sided with Logan. Logan waved casually to the still frozen group of classmates as he pulled out of the parking lot, acting like he hadn't just caused a major power shift.

Lilly held her chin high as she turned and walked to class, weaving her arm through Nicole's in an attempt to act just as carefree and unbothered as her now ex-boyfriend had done.

Nicole stumbled along with her friend. _I can't believe that happened_ , she thought and hugged Lilly before going into her class. The second she entered the room, she stopped. The first thing she spotted upon entering was her twin sister's indigo blue eyes.

 _You are responsible for all this!_ Nicole's temper flared as she slowly made her way over to her twin, where the last remaining seat was.

People were muttering wildly about Logan's denouncement of Lilly's power and Nicole hated them all, but none more so than the girl next to her. _I can't believe Logan blew up like that_. _She must have done something to him_ , Nicole thought and glared over at Veronica, who simply raised an eyebrow in question before looking up at the teacher.

Nicole fidgeted for a moment until she couldn't suppress her anger anymore and she leaned over and whispered to Veronica, "Just so you know; I'm on Lilly's side in this and I'll do whatever she wants in this."

Veronica turned her head; a frown was clear on her face.

" _Huh_?"

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**

 

* * *


	8. Slow Beginnings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cookies to those who gets and remembers the show I'm crossovering :)   
> Hope you like the chapter, I like it myself :)

**Chapter Seven: Slow beginnings**

"Damn it, you really need to warn me before you do something like that."

Veronica grinned, pulled off her hidden camera and gave it to her temporary handler. "Oh, Vaughn, don't be like that. From what I know of you, you should be used to unpredictable girls."

Michael Vaughn rolled his eyes even as he simultaneously let the Agency know that their mission was successful. "Sydney is only unpredictable _if_ things go south; it's one of her strengths. You, on the other hand, waltzed over to the man we're trying to bring down and simply sat on his lap without reason. I swear my heart stopped beating for a second. What would you have done if Marshall's equipment hadn't worked, huh? Tilted that pretty little head of yours and hoped for the best?"

Veronica grinned again, having finished donning the very revealing gown she'd worn on the mission and stretched lazily now back in her own clothes. "Yeah, pretty much."

Michael groaned and nodded for the driver to go and sat down next to Veronica with a tired sigh. "I'm really glad that you're only a freelance operative, Veronica. But for what it's worth; you did well and if you're interested, I'll pass on my observations to the right people for when you turn 18."

Veronica practically beamed, "Thanks Vaughn. I'd love to, but right now I need your driver to pick up the pace because I need to be at the Mars residence in a half an hour. Keith is expecting me."

Michael nodded and gave the driver her orders and then looked back at the young woman. "He still thinks you're spending time with your uncle's friend, David?"

"Yes," Veronica answered, "David showed up last night and after Keith and my _dear_ sister, had bought the whole background story he spewed out, he got me alone and asked me if I'd be interested in a little quick mission. And who am I to pass up on the fun stuff?"

"Only a teenager calls an undercover mission with possibility of death and mayhem fun." Michael deadpanned, but then smiled briefly at Veronica's answering nod.

Nearly thirty minutes later, the limo they'd used for the mission pulled up into the Mars' driveway and Veronica exited the car with a big grin on her face. To maintain her cover, she yelled brightly, "It was so much fun seeing you again, Uncle David! I'll call ya tomorrow, thanks for a _great_ time!"

She waited until the limo had disappeared from sight before entering her house. It still felt odd to her, calling the Mars' residence home, but she was slowly getting used to it. She'd been living in Neptune a little over a month now and things were slowly becoming routine for her.

Almost too much routine, but fortunately the surprise visit from David had saved Veronica from utter boredom and now she felt exhilarated. Tired and spent of course, but exhilarated none the less after a quick, undercover mission.

"Had a nice day?" Keith's voice suddenly rung out from behind her and Veronica spun around with a gasp.

 _It's really unnerving how quiet that man can be_ , she thought before smiling happily. "You bet. David took me out to eat and we talked and talked; it was just like old times."

Something glinted in Keith's eyes and if she had to guess, Veronica would interpret it as sadness. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself," Keith finally said. "Well, it's a school night so I hope you'll still be happy about staying out so late tomorrow morning. Goodnight, Honey."

 _He must be jealous that David knows me more than he does_ , Veronica surmised as she nodded goodnight to her father and started making her way to her room. To her surprise, the thoughts didn't make her want to scoff in annoyance. Instead, she actually felt something akin to pity.

A moment later, she walked through her bedroom door with an internal eye roll over herself. Back-up greeted her with a lazy slap of his tail as he lay all but comatose on her bed.

"Please," Veronica said mockingly, taking off her shoes with relief, "don't get up. Some guard dog you are today. What's wrong, Boy?"

Back-up yawned and his tail thumped once more before he was once again dead to the world. This time, Veronica did roll her eyes and she unceremoniously walked over and pushed the large dog aside, reclaiming her spot on her bed.

As she lay there in the dark, Veronica tried to put a name on what she was feeling inside. To her big shock, there was actually a little part of her that regretted having lied to her biological father about David and what she'd been up to the entire day.

 _Well,_ Veronica justified to herself silently, _it's not like I could have told him the truth. "Hey, Keith, my Uncle's old handler didn't just show up for a little chit chat. Oh no, he needed my assistance taking down a weapons dealer that had gone completely off the sanity train. No, I didn't get to kill him, but that was only because I was busy taking out his personal bodyguard while my partner took care of the rest."_

"Yeah," Veronica muttered with a yawn, "that's just bound to go over well…"

Back-up whined his agreement and Veronica patted his head softly. Finally, feeling a bit more like her old self again, she rolled over and went to sleep, worn out after an adrenalin-filled day.

**0o0o0**

The morning came all too soon for Veronica and she groaned and buried her head under her pillow when Nicole slammed her door open without mercy.

" _Get up_ , I've already knocked twice! You're gonna be late if you don't get a move on. Of course, I wouldn't mind that, but Daddy would. Now get up! And _keep_ that animal away from me!"

Nicole nearly shrieked the last order because Back-up, who didn't appreciate Nicole's tone anymore than Veronica did, suddenly sat up and growled quietly while showing all of his impressive teeth.

Pulling on all her childhood training in functioning while being almost unconscious, Veronica swung her legs out of the bed and slowly walked into her bathroom to take a quick shower. A half an hour later, she finally emerged from the bathroom fully clothed and once again resembling something akin to human.

Keith's knowing eyes on her was the only thing keeping Veronica from yawning outright at the breakfast table. Nicole sat staring at her with aggravation clearly visible on her face.

Veronica's mood from last night didn't survive the hostility and before she knew it, she'd turned her head towards her twin and sneered, " _What_? Do you find my features so beautiful that you absolutely have to stare at them all the time?"

Nicole gasped and turned to Keith, "Daddy, are you gonna let her speak to me like that?"

Veronica simply raised an eyebrow, while gulping down some of her special coffee. For once happy that she shared something in common with Keith, because ever since he'd noticed, he'd started preparing a cup for her in the mornings.

"Nikki," Keith began when it became clear that Veronica didn't intend to speak further, "please just calm down and let's talk about this later."

"Yeah, right," Nicole hissed, getting up and dramatically swinging her stylish braid over her shoulder, "like that's ever gonna happen. Ever since _she_ ' _s_ arrived, you've been taking her side and you never listen to me anymore!"

"Try saying something worth listening to and he might," Veronica said neutrally, but quickly smiled sheepishly at the scolding look Keith sent her way.

"Argh, I _hate_ you," Nicole yelled, "and I wish you'd never come here in the first place!"

A minute later, the front door slammed shut and Veronica glanced over at the immobile Keith.

"Look," she began, but Keith simply shook his head and got to his feet.

"I know you and your sister are in the middle of something these days, so I won't interfere, but," Keith's eyes trained into Veronica's, "stop antagonizing her. She's not like you or me; she's not used to people being mean to her."

Chastised by the sudden troubled look in Keith's eyes, Veronica didn't argue and simply walked out to her car and drove to school. _I really need to look into his files a bit more; he's shielding me too much because he thinks I'm a normal kid. Maybe it has something to do with Lianne…_

Putting the thought of her birthmother out of her mind quickly, Veronica kept driving quietly. On the way, her mood kept growing more and more sour. Her earlier good mood that her unexpected mission had secured was long gone. The moment she pulled into the school's parking lot, Veronica barely refrained from moaning in irritation when she noticed Wallace waiting hesitantly nearby.

The boy was never far from her, it was like he was just waiting to catch her unawares. He had even succeeded every now and again, mostly during lunch, where he'd just shown up out of nowhere and taken a seat next to her with the biggest disarming smile she'd ever witnessed.

It wouldn't have been so bad, if Wallace's persistence hadn't encouraged other people to try and befriend her. It was excruciating having to listen to them all go through their family businesses as though listing their credentials would make her more interested in becoming friends with them.

The only one that Veronica didn't make an effort to avoid when she was in school was Weevil. The Latino had somehow become her best friend in Neptune so far, however unbelievable it was. Not that Wallace was the only one who didn't try to push out the gang leader.

 _No_ , Veronica thought getting out of the car with an angry grimace that scared a tiny freshman out of the way, _if Wallace was the only one, I'd have no problem at all. But then there's_ _ **her**_ _!_

Her being Madison Sinclair, who was quite possibly the shallowest girl alive…or the meanest, take your pick.

Veronica huffed angrily, long past the ability to calm herself down. She nodded curtly to Wallace and went in the opposite direction, eventually leading her into the girls' restrooms. She blocked the door, completely unrepentant by the begging look one girl sent her as she closed the door. Once she was alone, Veronica tried her hardest to calm herself down from her sudden spiked rage. It didn't work so instead she slammed her foot into the wall and swallowed a groan of pain as it travelled up her leg with vengeance. Finally, Veronica sat down on the floor without caring about getting to class on time.

She settled down, trying to figure out why her mood had taken such a nosedive all of the sudden. It couldn't be because of what her sister had said at the breakfast table, could it? The very idea was preposterous to Veronica and she snorted and shook her head.

 _Although_ , a small, more honest part, of Veronica pointed out, _it did sting a little when she said she hated me and maybe that's why I'm so mad._

"No way," Veronica muttered out loud and got to her feet, too agitated to sit still any longer. "I don't care what that little Barbie doll thinks of me."

The image of Nicole looking down her nose at her hit Veronica and it was quickly followed with a memory of how happy Nicole always looked when she was around Lilly Kane.

Lilly Kane. Now there was a person Veronica didn't like. Happy to stop thinking about why she felt the way she did, Veronica instead focused on what she was currently doing to make the rich girl's life a bit more uncomfortable.

Ever since the day, nearly a month ago, where Nicole had leaned over and hissed something about choosing Lilly's side, Veronica had been taking time out of her schedule to literally stake out the older teenager.

It hadn't taken the professional in Veronica very long to figure out that Lilly was living quite the social life for a girl her age. But the biggest scoop, so to speak, had been something Veronica had discovered the evening before David had showed up and distracted her.

Lilly Kane was sleeping with a married man; _Aaron Echolls_ to be more specific. The very thought both thrilled Veronica and made her somewhat uncomfortable at the same time.

The fact that she now had ironclad proof that Lilly was a cheating whore that only cared about herself was a delight to the more evil part of Veronica, but then there was that little other thing. Aaron Echolls gave her the willies. And she had a bad feeling about the famous man.

 _I'll keep an eye of things and see what happens before I make a final decision whether or not to publicize their involvement,_ Veronica thought and got to her feet and slowly made her way back out in the hallway.

 _Besides, it wouldn't just be Lilly my knowledge would hurt_ , Veronica argued silently, making her way towards her class. _From what I've observed, Logan would probably shoot the messenger before going off on his ex. And,_ Veronica added inwardly with a slight grimace to her face, _I just really don't like the idea of hurting him for some reason…_

Suddenly, Veronica was ripped out of her pensive mood when she slammed into something hard and tumbled backwards. Two strong arms instantly encircled her and kept her upright.

Veronica looked up and into Logan's hazel eyes. It was like her earlier thoughts about the young man had materialized him right in front of her very eyes and for one long second, it was hard to breathe for some reason. Putting it down to the almost fall, Veronica put the whole thing in the back of her mind.

"Hey there little one," Logan greeted amiably after an awkward silence. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Shouldn't you mind your own business?" Veronica quipped and stepped backwards a bit, unconsciously trying to avoid the almost hypnotic charisma that seemed to flow off of Logan.

Logan smirked, crossed his arms and said, "Probably, but I do so enjoy meddling in other people's affairs."

 _Bad choice of words_ , Veronica thought with an internal cringe. "Look," she began in an attempt to stop thinking about the whole Kane and Echolls deal, "I do so love our little chats, but I'll have to take a rain check because as you so correctly pointed out: I'm late for class."

"Wanna do something fun instead?" Logan asked, just as Veronica was about to step past him.

"What do you have in mind?" Veronica's curious nature couldn't help but be swayed by the devious grin on the Echolls heir's face.

Thirty minutes later, they arrived at a beach that wasn't that far away from Veronica's hidden apartment. She spotted another familiar car when Logan pulled into the parking lot. It belonged to Dick Casablancas. The blonde best friend of Logan was actually one of the few people that Veronica could stand being around. He was just an all around goofball and she liked him. Not that she'd ever admit that of course.

A few moments later, Logan had led her down the beach into an almost secluded area where Veronica quickly spotted not only Dick, but also Madison. "You could have warned me that she was here," Veronica grumbled.

Logan shrugged. "Don't think I haven't noticed the way you go out of your way to avoid her. She's a friend and you should give her a chance, so jump off your high horse for a moment, okay."

"I'm not interested in making friends, Logan," Veronica stated, but none the less, she plastered a smile on her lips when they finally reached Dick and Madison.

"Veronica, hey!" Madison beamed and before Veronica knew it, the other female had launched herself around her neck in a hug.

Veronica quickly stepped away and sent a scorching glare towards a smirking Logan. Dick settled on waving casually at her, while handing Logan a beer. _I knew I liked him for a reason_ , Veronica thought gratefully.

Ten minutes later, the two guys were in the water, testing the waves. Veronica was silently fuming at having been left alone with the chatting Madison. Finally, she couldn't take it anymore and turned to the rich girl.

"Look, Madison; why are you so obsessed about becoming my friend? Trust me, I'm not an interesting person and I doubt my interests would suit you. So tell me what's going on."

Madison's big, bleached smile dimmed and she stared at Veronica for a long minute. Ultimately, she sighed and said, "It's obvious Logan has a thing for you. I mean, he totally went against Lilly because of you and I've always wanted to be one of the people in school that didn't have to answer to her all the time, so I went with him when he left her. I have a feeling that you'll be a good person to follow if you wind up hooking up with Logan, so-"

"I'm not gonna hook up with anyone," Veronica protested. She was completely floored over the shallowness of the girl beside her. _She wants to befriend me because Logan seemingly didn't want to bully me like Lilly wanted. Oh God, I hate this town and its power struggles_ …

Veronica got to her feet. "Look Madison, I'm oh so flattered that you want to be my friend so you can secure your own position in school, but I'll have to decline your offer. I won't waste anymore of your time. Tell Logan that I had to go."

Veronica quickly started running towards her apartment building, eager to go beat the crap out of her punching bag and hopefully relieve herself of some of her tension.

**0o0o0o0o**

It was late when she walked into the Mars residence again. Her car was still at the high school, but she decided to just do the unthinkable and ask her sister for a ride the following morning. _I doubt Neptune and Keith are ready to see me arriving on my bike._

"Where have you been?" Nicole all but jumped out from the shadows and pointed at Veronica. She looked ruffled, her eyes were even a bit swollen and Veronica had no idea what was going on.

"Out?" The word came off sounding like a question, but before she could say anything else, Nicole walked closer and had the audacity to push her in the shoulder.

"Do you have _any_ idea what we've been going through the entire day? First when Vice principal Clemmons asked me if I knew why my twin wasn't in class, I didn't care. Then, at lunch, I realized your car was out in the parking lot… When I came home you weren't here and I had to tell Daddy. He looked…" Nicole seemingly couldn't continue for a while and she pushed Veronica again.

"Do that again." Veronica threatened, "and you might just lose that damn arm."

"Shut up!" Nicole yelled and continued with her explanation, "Daddy's been calling around town, trying to find you and he's been acting more and more heartbroken the longer you weren't home. I kept thinking that you had either been kidnapped or didn't want to come home because of what happened this morning and I was so worried! Then you walk in and act all high and mighty! You're such a _bitch_ , Veronica!"

Veronica was completely shocked; never in a million years had she thought her absence would be cared about so much – especially from the self-centered sister, who was now sporting big trails of tears down her face. "I-" she started, but before she could finish what she didn't really knew she was gonna say, Keith came running down the stairs.

He had a wild look in his eyes and it was obvious just by looking at him that he'd been worried sick. A flare of unexpected guilt erupted in Veronica's chest when she realized he must have thought she'd left again just like when she was an infant, just voluntarily this time around. _I really am supposed to be smarter than this_ , she admonished inwardly and for once didn't try to avoid the fierce hug her birthfather soon had her wrapped in.

"Don't you _ever_ put me through that again," he murmured intently in her ear and even Veronica could hear the raw emotions in his shaking voice.

Uncertain as to how she was supposed to act, Veronica patted his shoulder awkwardly. "I'm sorry; I just didn't think that it mattered. I mean, Uncle Jay never…"

Keith released her from his death grip and crossed his arms in a foreboding manner. "Look, Veronica, I know you didn't mean to alarm us, but I need you to remember that I am not your uncle. I am your father and I expect you to always let me or your sister know where you are. Do you understand?"

Veronica nodded mutely and Keith continued in a more calm tone of voice, "Now I'll go and call off the search I was organizing and you, Veronica are going to your room and staying there. You're grounded, only allowed out for school and family time, are we clear?"

Again, Veronica nodded without saying anything. On the inside though, she was feeling a mixture between indignation and oddly enough contentment. She'd never doubted that her uncle loved her, not even a second, but nor had he ever acted like a typical parent. She'd never known what it was like to be a part of a normal family that set curfews and stuff like that. She kinda liked it.

As Keith walked into the room that she knew to be his home office and shut the door, Veronica turned to her surprisingly still present twin. They stood without speaking for several seconds until Veronica decided to try and reach out, "Nicole, I know I'm not like other girls in your life. I don't like your best friend and I honestly have no interest in partaking in the after school activities that you dabble with."

 _Okay, diplomacy has never been my strong suit,_ she thought when Nicole's lips thinned and her eyes started shooting fire.

"But," Veronica hurried to add with a tiny smile that was a lot harder to bring forth than she'd imagined, "I'm interested in getting to know the person behind all that. You know, get to know the person I shared a womb with for nine months and all. Wanna go watch a movie or something?"

Nicole didn't move for a long time and her eyes looked so intently into Veronica's that the young operative for the first time could see some of Keith in her. After yet another long moment of heavy silence, Nicole relaxed her stance.

"I don't like your dog, and I have no interest in stopping being Lilly's best friend. And honestly, I doubt we'd get along during school hours anyway, but," Nicole copied Veronica's earlier smile hesitantly as she wiped her puffy eyes, "I kinda want to get to know you a little bit too."

The two sisters turned as one and made their way up the stairs towards Veronica's room. Neither of them noticed that the door to Keith's office was now open and that he was watching them with hope in his eyes. _This is the first time they'd shared a civil conversation_ , he thought with a happy smile. The smile turned into a full out grin when Nicole's shriek sounded a second later, "I'm _not_ kidding Veronica, get that dog out of here!"

"Maybe, just maybe we'll be something like a family after all," Keith muttered and walked back into his office and sat down. He glanced down at the open file on his desk and sighed. _Of course, we have to get to the bottom of all of Veronica's secrets first…_

With a shrug, Keith decided to worry about all of that in the morning and reached out and closed the file where a picture of Veronica's "uncle David" had been visible just seconds before.

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**


	9. Smackdown and Revenge Planning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, but good news is that I got a job! It's an old employer that basically scoffed at my old boss' reasoning for letting me go and snapped me up eagerly and well, I'm about to be very busy again and honestly can't wait and hope it'll wind up being the best thing ever :D   
> Enjoy!

**Chapter Eight: Smackdown and Revenge planning**

Lilly Kane was standing in the parking lot next to her newest boy toy, Luke. He was a sniveling fool most of the time, but he was eager to please and didn't mind spending heaps of money on her, so it was bearable...for now anyway.

She yawned discreetly, having spent most of her night at the Grande where an unusually animated Aaron Echolls and she had engaged in a lot of after school activities. Lilly grinned inwardly at her own wit before glancing at the parking lot again. Cars were pulling in and the lot was filling up more and more, but there was one specific car missing.

Huffing in fresh annoyance, Lilly grabbed Luke's arm and looked down at his gold wristwatch. "Damn it," she complained, literally throwing Luke's arm away from her as though it was to blame for her troubles. "Where is she? She's never this late…"

"What's that, baby?" Luke asked with a completely simpering look of adoration in his eyes. Normally, Lilly loved that in a guy – _especially_ if he was looking at her, but not at that moment.

"Lilly," Lilly stated, "is my name. Contrary to popular belief; a baby is not a seventeen year old beautiful _woman_. Okay?" The only one, who'd ever been allowed to call her those silly pet names, was Logan, and that was mostly because he didn't take her shit and called whatever he felt like.

The thoughts about where Nicole was, were momentarily pushed aside, as Logan Echolls entered Lilly's mind. He hadn't spoken to her ever since that horrible day in the quad. Instead he spent his time goofing around with Dick and Madison. Even Duncan was on his friends list, but not her. And it rattled the beautiful blonde more than she'd ever say out loud.

There was a part of her that knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she'd lost Logan for good, and she hated it with all her being. In true Lilly fashion, she didn't stop to wonder that she should do some major attitude adjustments upon her own person. As an alternative, she blamed who she saw as the reason for the whole thing; Veronica Saunders and/or Mars.

Even thinking the name got Lilly's temperature up as her anger spiked. _Urgh, she's just such an unbelievable know it all. The guys are hounding her and she acts like everything is so unworthy of her: That's_ my _thing…I'll find something on her eventually, C.W will find her deepest, darkest secrets and then I'll have her right where I want her and things can get back to normal around here_.

"Ba- Lilly," Luke's hesitant voice interrupted her internal musings and her eyes snapped to his.

" _What_?"

"Err…She's right there," he pointed to the left and Lilly's gaze followed.

"Oh, no she didn't!" The words left her mouth in a hiss as she watched Nicole Mars – _Her_ best friend in the whole wide world – step out of her car and smile at her passenger…who just so happened to be Veronica.

Lilly was moving before she even realized it.

**0o0o0o0**

** 45 minutes later **

_The day started out so well,_ Veronica thought with a defeated sigh. Next to her, there was an answering loud exhale coming from Nicole. From the seat next to her twin, there was nothing but ice cold silence.

 _Maybe she's silent because she's strung up on painkillers at the moment?_ Veronica pondered with a soft snort of amusement.

Nicole's gaze instantly snapped back to her and she looked nothing like the sweet girl she'd been all morning. There was only resentment and disappointment left.

"Quit looking at me like I killed your cat or something," Veronica muttered and looked down at her right hand, which was throbbing a little bit after the exercise she'd put it through earlier.

"Don't," Nicole ordered quietly, looking back at whatever invisible particles she'd been looking at before speaking to Veronica. "There's nothing funny about this _at all_."

Veronica was about to say that humor was really a more individual trait when the door to vice principal Clemmons' office opened and Keith stepped out of the door, followed by a tightlipped Celeste Kane; Lilly's mother.

The billionaire's wife barely glanced at her only daughter, who was sitting with her arm in a sling, a cracked lip and a severely glazed look in her eyes before walking out the door. She merely waved at Lilly to follow, after shooting a contemptuous glare at Veronica.

Keith and his twins watched the Kanes leave in silence. Vice principal Clemmons appeared next to Keith with his stern mask in place and Veronica suppressed a groan. _I just had to get on the bad side of two of Neptune's few honest men. Dang it._

"Now, Miss Saunders-Mars," Clemmons began, and Veronica pretended she didn't see the grimace that Keith gave at the sound of her mixed names; she refused to feel guilty for keeping Jay's last name – period.

"Veronica?"

Veronica snapped back to the present, realizing that she'd completely spaced out on Clemmons' lecture. "I'm sorry? It's been a long day and it's not even noon yet."

Nicole let out a sound that was a blend of a chuckle and an annoyed huff. "If you didn't go around beating people like they were nothing more than flies, maybe you wouldn't be so tired."

"To be fair," Veronica directed her words to both Nicole and the still silent Keith, "she started it."

"You are not in kindergarten," Clemmons admonished, crossing his arms, "nor are you expected to solve your disputes with violence. Especially since your abilities in the martial arts department apparently exceed Miss Kanes' quite a bit, if I'm understanding things correctly."

Sighing, Veronica stood up. "What's my punishment? I got a little carried away, I'll admit that, but she literally stomped over and pushed both me and Nicole here, before crossing the line entirely."

Nicole stood up as well, for now it seemed as though she was standing in Veronica's corner and for that the secret agent was eternally grateful. For some reason, Keith's emotionless look was getting to her. "It's true. Lilly made the first move and when she…Well, when I couldn't handle things, Veronica stepped in. So if she's gonna be punished, I'll have to insist on the same punishment."

Keith's eyes widened a fraction and he looked closer at his dark-haired daughter. "Nikki…" Evidently, he was at a loss for words over the newfound solidarity she and Veronica portrayed.

"You'll have detention for a week," Clemmons finally stated, "both of you. Miss Kane will be notified of her detentions at a later time. Also, you are now required to join some kind of after school club."

Seeing as Nicole was already ankles deep into most of the clubs the school had to offer, Veronica could only surmise that he was talking to her.

"I'm not really a people person," Veronica tried to get out of it, knowing that she'd probably end up killing her classmates if she were to spend more time with them.

"Your sister is on the school's newspaper," Keith suddenly said, "she's a good photographer and would most likely be nice enough to show you around while you figure out what kind of reporter you'll be."

Veronica groaned out loud this time and took back all the positive things she'd ever thought about her biological dad. " _Fine_ , now excuse me, I'm late for class."

She left without bothering to look at Keith or Clemmons. Nicole bit her lip, even hating conflicts as she did; she knew she wanted to say something. _It's odd_ , she thought _, only a few days ago I wanted nothing more than to watch her suffer and now, all I want is help her out._

"Nikki?" Keith's voice brought Nicole back to the now and she looked up at her dad, as he continued, "Was there something you wanted? You look like you want to say something."

"Yeah," Nicole agreed, "you shouldn't force Veronica into the conventional high school route. She's not like me and believe me when she says she's not a people person; she means it and you might just have ruined all the good things you've managed to do…"

Keith's eyes darkened as he too seemed to realize that his smallest daughter was anything but compliant and that, while she would obey, she would most assuredly not do it with high spirit. "Crap," he muttered.

**0o0o0o0**

Veronica made it through the rest of the school day without killing anyone. There had been a few close calls though. Some of Lilly's 09'er friends had been giving her the stink eye during lunch and made a few snide comments. Fortunately for all, especially for their own safety, Nicole had intervened and dragged Veronica over to a secluded corner and placed her next to a silent girl with lilac hairstreaks.

The girl had briefly introduced herself as Mac before going back to whatever it was she was doing on her laptop, leaving Veronica blissfully alone. The non 09'ers of the school kept sending her small grins and one even patted her back, saying that it was nice to see the Queen Bee brought down a peg or two for once. Logan wasn't in school so she had no idea what he thought about the new girl attacking his ex-girlfriend.

She firmly ignored the pang in her chest that pointed out that her day would probably have been a whole lot funnier if he'd been here. Instead, she wondered why he wasn't in school. _He seemed fine yesterday? Maybe he was drinking too much and is laying low until the hangover has cleared from his system?_

Eventually it was time for Veronica's first detention and she silently followed Nicole to the classroom where it was being held. Nicole seemed to still want to try and be friends and didn't show any of her obvious distress over the whole thing again, something Veronica appreciated more than she cared to admit.

When she entered the classroom, Veronica broke out into a grin at the sight before her. Weevil was sitting in the back with his boot clad feet propped on the table in front of him and his sunglasses on to mask the fact that he was clearly trying to get some shuteye.

"What?" Nicole asked quietly next to her, having discovered the grin on Veronica's face.

"It's just nice to see one of _my_ friends," Veronica explained and nodded towards Weevil.

"Oh," Nicole muttered with an eye roll as she sat down in the nearest available seat. "He's always got detention; at least twice a week from what Lilly says."

At the mention of the blonde, Nicole's face turned gloom and Veronica knew she was wondering whether or not she and Lilly would ever get over what had transpired that day.

 _Well,_ Veronica thought, her temper rising when she thought back to the incident at the parking lot this morning, _I can't believe she's willing to be friends with someone who hit her anyway…_

Inwardly, Veronica relived the whole thing again. She'd just exited the monstrosity that Nicole lovingly called a car when Lilly's shriek had been heard next to Nicole. "What do you think you're doing?"

Nicole's happy demeanor had instantly vaporized and she'd looked down at the ground with a guilty air about her. "I was just giving Veronica a ride to school. Daddy said I should…"

Lilly's eyes had scorched Nicole before turning to Veronica for a second. Veronica's raised eyebrow had done nothing to lighten the mood and Lilly had looked back at Nicole again. "You're so not gonna spend time with her again, Nikki. You're _my_ best friend and I won't have it. She's ruining everything, don't you even care? I thought you were on my side."

At that moment, Lilly had grabbed hold of Nicole's arm and started dragging her towards the school. Veronica had spotted the flinch of pain in her sister's face and walked up to the temperamental Kane.

"Whatever goes on between Nicole and me is not any of your business, Kane."

Lilly had released Nicole and turned to Veronica, even daring to push her in the shoulder once. "Shut up you trash and butt out of this. No one here likes you and Nicole has said that she wished you hadn't shown up in the first place, so there!"

"Lilly stop it!" Nicole's eyes had widened in both horror and anger. It was obvious that she had no idea that her best friend would stoop to such a level. "Veronica is my sister and I don't want her to leave."

SLAP!

Lilly's hand had connected harshly with Nicole's cheek and she'd started to scream profanities and something about betrayal before suddenly she had been socked in the mouth by Veronica.

Veronica's anger had flared to an impossible level when she'd seen Lilly put her hand on Nicole and before she'd even realized it, she'd hit Lilly in the face and twisted the arm that had touched her twin so hard that it had made an audible snap a few seconds later as it broke. "Don't. Ever. Touch. My. Sister. Again," Veronica had hissed threateningly, fully prepared to take the vain, self-centered girl's life. She didn't even notice that this was the first time; she fully acknowledged her sibling's status in her life.

It had been Lilly's current boyfriend and her brother, alongside with a few other 09'ers that had wrenched Veronica away from the moaning Lilly.

"Yo, V," Weevil's voice interrupted Veronica's musings and she blinked out of the memory to met his dark eyes a moment later.

"What?"

"Sit your ass down and tell me if it's true that you put the smackdown on Lilly Kane's fine ass?"

Laughing, Veronica sat down in the empty seat next to him and nodded. There was a brief look of something akin to respect in Weevil's eyes, but he quickly hid behind his usual mockery and they sat and talked quietly for the next two hours of detention. Their supervisor was the librarian, an old, almost deaf woman, who looked more dead than alive so they didn't get in trouble for talking. Although, Nicole did send Veronica some pretty telling looks every now and again.

**0o0o0o0o0**

The next day, Logan wasn't in school again. Veronica eventually admitted that she missed the handsome Echolls heir and started looking for his friends to get some information.

Madison was holding court in the middle of the quad during lunch, enjoying the spotlight now that Lilly was temporarily out of commission. Veronica didn't even bother going over to the other girl and sought out Dick.

Dick was sitting with his friends and his little brother, Cassidy. Veronica had spoken briefly to the youngest Cassablancas a few times and really liked him. She recognized the intelligence in his eyes along with something else that gave her the feeling that he was keeping some burdens that were too heavy for him to carry. Also, she felt a bit sorry for him because no one other than her used his given name, insisting on calling him Beaver of all things.

"Hi idjits," Veronica greeted the group and added with a genuine smile at Cassidy, "Hey Cass. Remind me that I might need your help on some algebra later, okay?"

Cassidy nodded, looking almost too grateful for her presence. She turned to Dick, who was rolling his eyes at her. "Listen, Richard Jr. I need to get in touch with Logan. Give me his number."

Veronica knew she could have hacked into the schools administrative files to get all the information on Logan that she wished, but she was feeling lazy and took the easy way out for once. "Come on, I don't have all day."

Dick grinned, his eyes dwelled a bit too long on her chest area before he finally asked, "how do I know that you're not one of Logan's stalker chicks, huh? He might not want you to have his number, ever think of that?"

"Oh yes," Veronica smiled evilly, "but you see, I _just_ got some test results back and I really need to speak with him…it's a matter of public health and what not."

Only Cassidy seemed to realize that she was kidding, because his face wore a cute little grin while Dick quickly rattled off Logan's number.

"Thanks, I'll see you later Cass," she said over her shoulder before making her way over to an unoccupied table to call Logan.

A few seconds later, Veronica snapped her phone shut, a frown marring her features. She took a deep breath and redialed. Again, it went straight to voicemail where Logan's voice stated listlessly, "Inspirational message of the day: Life is unpredictable and tough, just when you think you have got a hang of how it all works, it changes. Leave a message and I'll get back to you, if my life doesn't get worse in the meantime."

Veronica ended the call again and put her phone away. She felt unsettled for some reason, the tone in Logan's voice had jarred her and she didn't like that bland, almost dead tone in his usually so vibrant voice. _Something is wrong_ , suddenly Veronica was sure of it and she was on the move a minute later.

After a few minutes of rapid scouting, Veronica finally spotted Nicole in the room where the Neptune school paper was being made and she quickly stomped inside. She ignored the looks the other students gave her and muttered that she was new to the teacher, before reaching Nicole's side.

"I need your help," Veronica blurted out quietly, mindful of the eager ears in the background. "Cover for me, say I went home sick and if Keith asks, say I'm being kept longer at detention for mouthing off or something."

Nicole's brow furrowed and she leaned closer, looking genuinely concerned, "What's going on, Veronica?"

"I promise it's nothing dangerous or lawbreaking, but I just need to go for a little while. I'll be home tonight, I promise." She was out the door before seeing whether or not Nicole agreed to cover for her.

Veronica's sense of foreboding kept growing the closer she got to the Echolls mansion. Why, she didn't know and frankly she didn't care. All she wanted was to make sure that Logan wasn't lying in a pile of blood or something to that degree.

To her luck the gates to the white mansion were open and there were none of Aaron Echolls' rapid fans milling around, so she quickly drove up to the house, jumped out of her car and all but ran to the front door of the white building.

Not bothering to knock, Veronica walked inside and ran head first into Lynne Echolls. "Oh," the actress gasped and quickly let her bangs cover her eyes, but not before Veronica caught a good glimpse of the dark bruises around her eyes.

"I'm sorry to just barge in," Veronica said, filing away Lynne's injuries for later, "but I need to talk to Logan, it's really important."

"He…err, he's not feeling well," Lynne tried to lead Veronica back outside, but the smaller girl wouldn't allow it. "I'll tell him you were here though."

"Don't," Veronica ordered and her tone made it quite clear to the Echolls wife that she was _not_ about to be moved. "I don't care what I'll find; judging from your appearance, I can pretty much guess already, but I _will_ be seeing Logan. It would be easier if you'd just point me in the right direction."

With a heavy sigh, Lynne's well manicured finger showed Veronica the way to go and she started making her way to Logan's room. Then she stopped and turned around, facing the weary-looking Lynne.

"I know people," she said, "people that don't judge when you come to them for help. Give me the word and I'll make sure they'll be expecting you."

Lynne nodded mutely and walked into the living room without any further acknowledgement. If she thought it odd that a mere teen could have that kind of people backing her, she didn't let it show.

Veronica shook off her pity for the older woman and quickly reached Logan's door. She knocked and heard his muffled, "I'm not hungry, Lynne. How many times do I have to tell you to leave me the fuck alone."

"Sorry, Handsome," Veronica greeted and closed the door behind her, "but I'm not Lynne."

If it hadn't been for Veronica's background, she would probably have gasped loudly at the sight that met her eyes the moment Logan's head turned in her direction. He was swollen, red and blue and his nose was obviously broken.

"Why haven't you had that looked at?" she asked, pointing at the unattended nose that was looking extremely painful.

"You're kidding, right?" Logan said, his words slurred a bit by the fact that his right cheek was swollen beyond belief, "that would mean I'd have to be seen in public and that's a big no no around here when Daddy Dearest have deemed me worthy of his attentions."

"Aren't you people rich enough to get house calls from bribable doctors?" Veronica suggested as she gently sat down next to Logan on the bed.

The look he sent her was cold enough to freeze a lesser person, but again, Veronica's training came to her aide.

"Don't look at me like that." Logan demanded after a long, heavy minute of silence.

"Like what?" Veronica asked and tried not to think of all the possible ways she was going to murder Aaron Echolls in his sleep.

"I don't need your pity," Logan hissed and stood up hastily, only to groan in agony and sit back down with a sigh. "I've been handling this thing my whole life and don't need your sympathy. Go away."

"First off," Veronica kneeled in front of Logan and looked him firmly in the eyes, "I do _not_ pity you. I have empathy for your situation, sure, but no pity. Secondly, stop acting like you have to handle this alone. I can already guess what happened."

"Oh really," Logan sneered and looked away. There was a brightness in his eyes that signaled that he was struggling with his emotions.

"Yeah, something set off the big man and he wanted to prove his power or something stupid like that. Now, he'll get his eventually. People like that always do. But for now, I'm gonna take care of you whether you want it or not."

"I don't need your help," Logan still wasn't looking at her and so, Veronica reached out gently and took a soft grip of his bruised chin and turned his head back towards hers.

"No, Logan, but you're getting it anyway. Now, follow me to the bathroom, because I'm gonna fix you up."

"How do you even know how to do this kind of thing?" Logan asked ten minutes later, when she'd finished setting his nose (something that was never a great experience no matter how many times one lived through it) and cleaning him up.

"Oh, believe me," Veronica answered as she washed her blood covered hands, "I've seen worse and with the life I've led, one needs to learn stuff like this."

"You make it sound like you're out fighting all the time." Logan's eyes held a spark of amusement and Veronica shrugged, cursing her inability to keep things to herself.

"Now that I've seen for myself that you're alive, I'll be on my way. I have things to do."

Logan's face tried to frown, but the pain it caused quickly killed that notion and he settled on asking, "What things?"

"Nothing that you should worry your pretty little head with, Echolls." Veronica quipped and handed him a couple of pills.

"Oh no," Logan held up his hands, "last time I took pills from you, I was nearly roasted in the sun on that beach because I slept for so long. Never again."

Veronica smiled widely. "Trust me; this is just for the pain. Take them, sleep on it and I'll see you in school whenever you're ready."

Logan's face turned serious. "I would've gone to school yesterday, but he wouldn't let me. Said it'd cause too much attention and he didn't trust my lying abilities. I'm not scared to go to school." He insisted quietly.

"I know," Veronica nodded, silently fuming at the sight of insecurity in Logan's eyes. It was obvious that he was afraid that she'd think less of him now. "I think it's a smart move to lay low for a while until things have calmed down. Besides, you only missed me beating Lilly in the parking lot, so don't worry about missing out on the important stuff."

"You did _what_?" Logan's tone was incredulous and for the first time since Veronica had arrived, he looked like himself and not on the verge of a meltdown.

"Okay," Veronica began with a little sinister smile, "it all started when…"

**0o0o0o0**

Veronica made a quick pit stop at her hidden apartment where she grabbed her unregistered Beretta and some of her beloved knives. Her face was grim as she made a call to David.

He answered almost immediately. "If you've killed any of your classmates, I'm not recommending you," he greeted her.

"I need a cleaner in an hour."

"What are you planning?" David's voice was deadly serious as he quickly picked up on the angry tone in Veronica's voice.

"Revenge."

"Wait there and I'll come myself." David didn't give Veronica a chance to object before ending the call.

It took nearly two hours before there was a knock on the door and Veronica ceased punching her punching bag and went to let David in.

Twenty minutes later, her uncle's former handler had convinced Veronica to not go stomping after Aaron Echolls to kill him in the most barbaric way she knew of. Instead, he promised to look over the star's finances and make some trouble for the abuser.

"Fine," Veronica compromised, after revealing that not only was Aaron a wife and child beating scumbag, he was also screwing whoever was willing, including his son's intolarable ex. "but next time, I'll be ready and I won't be reasonable enough to call you first. Understand?"

David very nearly gulped at the death promised in the teen's eyes. Not for the first time, he wondered if James' training had done more harm than good. "Yes, but if it should happen; promise me you'll make it discreet enough to not ruin your future."

Veronica's lips twisted into a horrific copy of a smile, "Don't worry David. It won't be the first man I've killed, nor will it be the last…"

**0o0o0o0o0**

Later that night, once Veronica was back in her room at the Mars' residence, she was silently mulling over when – not if – she would get a chance to take out Aaron Echolls.

She'd despised the man since meeting him on her undercover mission all those years ago, had nothing but contempt for his adultery but now she truly hated the man. Because he'd hurt one of the few people that Veronica cared about.

A small part of her wondered if she'd have been willing to commit murder for anyone else than Logan Echolls and why she was so eager to do so in the first place. She fell asleep before the answer came to her.

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit fierce here at the end, I know, but like I've tried to portray: Veronica isn't the same as in canon here. This is AU for a reason. She's managed to become an operative as a teen, been smack in the middle of that world her whole life and she's seen and done things that would probably turn most people off. She's only just learning to care about her sister in public, and Keith secretly. Logan...well, her eagerness to defend him kindda speaks for itself:)   
> Thanks for any kudos and comments, they make me so happy!  
> Until Next Time


	10. Veronica's Hit List

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy that people seem to enjoy my little story despite the lack of comments. At least this lovely site has kudos and that makes it easier to see if people are liking one's work.  
> Big thanks to those who took the time to write me and let me know their thoughts or even just congrstulate me on my newest job. Means the world to me!

**Chapter Nine: Veronica's Hit List**

"Veronica, it's not supposed to go there. Come with me and I'll show you where it belongs."

Veronica sighed and straightened up from her spot on the floor next to one of the filing cabinets in Keith's office at Mars Investigations. She turned to look at her sister with what she knew was a pouting look on her face. "Why did he have to order me to work here for my after school punishment? I'm really not cut out to be a desk jockey."

Nicole smiled; she glanced over at her desk in the outer office where she usually spent three days a week answering phones to make enough allowance to buy things that she really wanted. _Or_ , Nicole's mood dimmed a bit when her thoughts went out to the girl that she used to think off as her best friend, _whatever Lilly thought I needed…_

"Hey," Veronica's gentle voice brought her back to the present and Nicole looked back at her twin.

"Just be happy you're not out there answering phones and trying to fend off Vinnie's relentless flirting and teasing. That guy is just creepy on so many levels."

"Oh?" Nicole could swear that Veronica looked interested for a second. "We could always switch you know? You're obviously well known in this filing thing and I'd just love to answer phones and talk to people. I'm a great talker."

This time, Nicole laughed out loud. "Oh yeah? Well, I'll think about that. Come let me place this in the right cabinet before you mess things up even more."

A half an hour later, Keith allowed his daughters to go home and when they entered, the Mars' households only maid had cooked some delicious-looking lasagna and the siblings chatted amiably as they ingested it with a speed that would have made the guys at school wonder where it went.

**0o0o0**

A week went by and Veronica finished her punishment, but managed to wheedle Keith into letting her become a secretary much like Nicole on the days her sister wasn't working. She didn't quite know why her father's pleased smile warmed her insides so, but it _did_ and she went to work with the concentration and determination that had made her Uncle Jay realize that she was indeed a prodigy.

Despite the fact that she was missing her operative life and her uncle, there was a part of Veronica that actually quite enjoyed living in Neptune. For the first time, she was making friends that weren't a part of her undercover missions and she knew that they liked her for who she was and not the person she portrayed.

Of course, Veronica never revealed anything important about her past (and sometimes present) life as an agent, but she enjoyed learning to live as a fairly normal high school student in a town mainly made up by millionaires and their servants.

Sure there were some drawbacks and Lilly Kane was definitely one of them. So far, the Kane heiress hadn't done anything too evil to any of them. But the way she kept glaring at Nicole whenever they were in the same room, told Veronica that something was being planned.

A few days later, Veronica, and everyone else in the quad, found out just what that was.

Nicole was sitting with Veronica and Weevil and his friend, Hector for lunch. There had been some initial hesitation on her part to associate with the PCH'ers, but one look at the way Veronica and the gang leader interacted, told her that she had nothing to fear.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over her and Nicole looked up into the eyes of her boyfriend. Next to him, Lilly stood with a few of her remaining 09'er friends behind her. Nicole barely noticed her former best friend, too busy taking in the oddly cold look in Duncan's eyes. "Hey Sweetie," she greeted uncertainly. He hadn't talked to her in a few days, so she had no idea what was going on.

Duncan's eyes showed a hint of something akin to longing, but then he blinked and his face morphed into something unrecognizable. "I'm dumping you," he stated, "you're not good enough for me."

Nicole's entire world came crumbling down; this was the guy she loved above all else; the boy that had given her her first kiss and the man she wanted to give herself too when she was ready. Her breathing picked up as she tried to prevent tears from falling down her face. "W-what? Duncan, why are you saying stuff like that? It's not like you…"

"Because, obviously," Duncan answered without another hint of emotion, "compared to my family, yours is pathetic. I don't want an indecisive child at my side. Besides, I don't like the way you've been treating my sister and seeing as you're even publically associating with that devil twin of yours, I think it's pretty clear whose side you're on. We're through."

"Hey!" Veronica's voice gave Nicole some small measure of assurance; she wouldn't let her drown and embarrass herself out here in public. "Assface; go fetch a pair of balls of your own so your sister can stop jerking you around by the ones you're currently possessing."

Duncan's lips tightened and Lilly stepped forward, sending the Mars twins a death glare that would have sent lesser people running. "Don't talk to my brother like that, you cunt."

Veronica's smile was made of pure evil when she spoke, "don't talk to my sister that way, you pathetic excuse of a human being. Now leave, or are you that anxious for a rematch?"

Lilly's face paled and she took a step back, hiding between her posse. "You don't scare me."

"Funny," Veronica sat back down again and leaned into Weevil, "it sure looks that way. What do you say Weevil?"

Weevil shrugged and looked at Lilly with satisfaction in his eyes. Veronica had already figured out that he'd messed around with Lilly at one point in time and still had some kind of feelings for her, so she didn't hold his less than articulate response against him.

"Go away Lilly and take your coward of a brother with you," to everyone's surprise it was Nicole speaking, she had stood up and eyed the Kane siblings with nothing short of distain in her eyes. Veronica could see that she was dangerously close to tears, so she stood up and walked over to Nicole's side in a show of support.

"Yeah, what she said."

"What's going on here?" Vice principal Clemmons' stern voice interrupted the standstill and everyone turned to look at him.

Veronica spotted that girl with the lilac hair stripes that she'd been sort of introduced to at one point, standing next to the tall school teacher. To her annoyance, she couldn't remember the girl's name.

A few moments later, the people had spread out and before Veronica let her sister seek out some needed solitude, she whispered, "call me and I'll come get you if you need me."

With a nod, Nicole disappeared and Veronica's attention was came back to Weevil and the girl that had brought the vice principal before things could get bloody. "Hey, you!" she called out and the girl turned from the cool stare that Weevil was, for some reason, subjecting her to.

"What's your name? Thanks for bringing Clemmons by the way, I just finished one parental punishment and really didn't want to get another one for fighting in public so soon."

The girl smiled and looked down at the ground as she introduced herself, "I'm Mac, but you know, we've already met before so…"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Veronica lied smoothly, "I'm new so people's faces just gets mixed up for me. Hi Mac, I'm Veronica."

 _She looks like a strong wind could knock her over_ , Veronica thought with some internal distaste; she detested weak people.

To Veronica's chagrin, it was Weevil that helped her realize that appearances weren't all it was cracked up to be in Mac's case. He leaned forward and took a firm hold of one of her lilac streaks. "Trying to be all tough or did you just grab the wrong hair color one day and decided to run with it, laptop girl?"

Mac jerked her hair out of Weevil's fingers and fearlessly pushed him back in his seat. "Would you believe that I'm just colorblind?" she asked with a dead expression on her face. Veronica watched in silent amusement as Weevil first blinked in confusion before chuckling.

"Now," Mac turned to Veronica, "although Nicole's always run around Lilly's feet, she's been nothing but nice to me – unlike her so called _friend_. I heard from someone that you're a regular eye for an eye kindda gal, and I wanted to lend my services so to speak."

"You know," Veronica eyed the slightly taller brunette with a smirk, "not to sound cliché and all; but I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

**0o0o0**

A few days later, Veronica was ready to blow a gasket. She stormed out of the restroom where she'd just had another unpleasant run-in with Lilly. She'd been finishing her business when the door to the restroom opened and the Kane girl entered with two of her newest minions.

She had said some fairly unpleasant things about Veronica, which the blonde easily ignored, but then she'd overheard Lilly mock Nicole and brag about how she'd made Duncan dump her.

Veronica had exited her stall, and proceeded to wash her hands in stony silence. Just as she finished drying her hands, she'd turned to Lilly.

"You should know that I'm a pretty dangerous person to make an enemy out of."

Lilly had laughed, acting as though she hadn't paled in fear the moment Veronica came out of the stall. Veronica allowed the Kane girl her fun and walked outside, looking as though nothing was bothering her.

On the inside though, Veronica was fuming. Lilly Kane was annoying her in so many ways that it shouldn't have been possible. It was in that moment that Veronica decided to bring Lilly down, humiliate her and if possible reduce the billionaire's daughter to a blubbering mess of tears.

"I need to calm down before I actually commit murder," she whispered to herself and turned a corner, lost in planning.

Like always, when she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, Veronica walked in to someone. That someone just so happened to be Logan, who'd been allowed to go to school that morning for the first time in a week.

The bruises on his face were less prominent now and his peers probably thought he'd been in a brawl with one of the PCH'ers over some territorial thing. It had been known to happen after all. Veronica knew better and she eyed him carefully. It wasn't the first time she saw him since that day in his room, but she just couldn't seem to stop herself from inspecting him whenever he was close.

"You know," Logan's smirk was teasing, "Some people would charge you for that kind of staring."

"Oh, how about you be quiet and enjoy that someone wants to look at you for once?" Veronica asked with a smile of her own. Mysteriously, she could feel her earlier bad mood evaporate as soon as he spoke to her.

She was too preoccupied with eying the yellowing bruise on his forehead to take much notice though. Logan allowed her her staring for another few seconds, before rolling his eyes at her. "I know I'm gorgeous, Ronnie, but _please_ ; you're making me blush."

Veronica was about to let loose one of her standard insults, but then Logan completely derailed her, "So, what's going on between you and Lilly? I've only been away for a week, but from what I hear you two are developing some kind of unprecedented hate/hate relationship even for Neptune's standards. Mind filling me in here?"

"There's nothing to tell," Veronica stated, her mood plummeting again at the thought of the other obnoxious blonde. "She's being a bitch to Nicole and I don't like that."

"To Nicole?" Logan frowned, apparently he hadn't heard about the fall out between the once upon a time best friends.

"Yeah," Veronica sighed and proceeded to tell him about Duncan's break up and Lilly's involvement in it.

To her surprise, Logan looked extremely angry at the mention of Duncan's actions. "I can't believe he's letting her run his life like that," he growled after a tense minute of silence.

"I know," Veronica replied. She looked closer at Logan and noticed the genuine annoyance he portrayed. _Is he mad because Duncan is a coward or because Nicole got hurt? Does he like Nicole?_

The mere thought brought an unprecedented lurch of… _something_ inside Veronica's chest and she quickly locked into the deepest part of her mind, never to think of it again; at least not in public.

Suddenly, Veronica had an urge, no, a need to be somewhere else. She quickly muttered some pathetic excuse and jumped into the fray of students.

A little while later, Veronica entered the room where the school's newspaper was made. She quickly scanned the room, taking in the five students that were obviously trying to edit the newest edition of the paper, the overlooked janitor that was mopping the floor and then she found what she was looking for.

Nicole was sitting by the computers in the corner of the room, her entire body slouched and sending off dark vibes. Again, Veronica felt a renewed lust for vengeance on the Kanes'. For a second, she entertained the thought of going over and consoling her sister, but realistically Veronica knew it wasn't one of her strong suits.

 _I should leave her alone for now and then spend the time digging up some more things on Lilly and Duncan_. Happy that she'd finally agreed on a plan, Veronica spun around and exited the room just as unnoticed as she'd entered it.

**0o0o0**

Veronica exited her apartment a few hours later. She'd been busy after leaving the school; she'd looked through every file regarding the Kane family that she could probably tell people what breakfast Lilly had had one year ago to the date.

After having suited up with a few of her more respectable knives, just in case, Veronica drove to the place she knew that Lilly was spending her afternoon. The Neptune Grande Hotel. And she wasn't alone either; she was with Aaron Echolls.

 _This way I get to shoot to birds with one stone_ , Veronica thought as she pulled into the parking area at the hotel. That intense anger she'd felt simmering inside her ever since witnessing Logan's bruises started bubbling a bit more than was wise and she took a deep breath to calm down. A valet that she vaguely remembered as one of her less than wealthy classmates took the car and drove it off to parking.

Veronica entered the lobby and eyed her surroundings appreciatively. It really was a pretty decent hotel in her opinion. Out of habit, Veronica's eyes wandered casually around the area and she mentally took in the number of security cameras and possible escape routes. Some habits were harder to kill than others apparently.

"May I help you?" A cheerful and familiar voice interrupted Veronica in her scouting and she turned her head to lock eyes with Wallace Fennel of all people.

"Wallace? What are you doing here?" As soon as she'd asked the question, Veronica knew the answer. He was wearing the deep red uniform and characteristic hat that signified him as being a bellboy. "You _work_ here? Since when?"

Wallace shuffled his feet uncomfortably, but then answered with a sigh, "Well, my last job didn't go so well. I…err, kindda never got over the whole PCH'er thing. My boss wasn't happy about them having a grudge against me so I found this job instead."

"Wait," Veronica crossed her arms, "you're still on Weevil's bad side? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Well," Wallace shrugged, "maybe not him specifically. I get the feeling that he's respecting your friendship by leaving me alone and all, but there's this one guy, Thumper, who's a real ass. He showed up last week with some friends of his and spoke hard and stuff. He didn't do anything, but it was enough to spook my manager, so here I am. It's not a bad job; I get more tips this way at least."

Veronica added Thumper to her to-do list. She had never really liked the skinny Latin boy. He was always following her with his eyes whenever Weevil wasn't looking. If Veronica had been a bit less secure in herself and her ability to say…snap his neck like twig if provoked, she might have been a bit afraid of the guy. Instead, she just disliked him and he was rising on her shit-list the more Wallace spoke.

"I'll handle Thumper, Wallace." Veronica stated and continued before Wallace could object with some kind of notion about, it wasn't manly to be protected by a tiny girl, "As payment, I could use your help a bit."

"Help with what?" Wallace asked cautiously, evidently not soothed by Veronica's small smile.

"I've gotta use a room, next to one of the suites that are currently occupied." Veronica rattled off the number to Lilly and Aaron's rooms and added, "It won't take more than five, ten minutes tops and I'll be out of your hair, I promise."

Wallace sent a look that clearly stated his doubt about that, but Veronica finally swayed him when she said, "Quid pro quo, Fennel. I promise, I'll make sure you don't regret it."

Ten minutes later, Veronica was covertly ushered into the suite next to the one Lilly and Aaron was so vigorously occupying at the moment. Wallace stayed by the door, making sure they weren't going to be disturbed.

Veronica instantly fell into her professional mode, as she plugged in her laptop to the flat screen TV in the living room and hacked into the security cameras that were inside the movie star's suite. Of course, the cameras were supposed to be shut down to preserve the guests privacy, but that was really of little concern to the C.I.A. agent as she quickly did what she came for and copied the images of them into a file on her laptop. Due to some little nifty gizmo that her friend, Marshall had given her during her last mission, Veronica could even get the sounds on the file too.

Five minutes later, Veronica walked back out to Wallace and pretended she didn't see the thoughtful look in his eyes. "Well, that's that then," she said instead and pecked him on the cheek. "I'll look into the PCH'er thing as soon as I hook up with Weevil in school tomorrow, don't worry. If nothing else, I'll beat up Thumper and make sure he leaves you alone."

"You're doing oh so much for my manliness right now, you know," Wallace pointed out with a little embarrassed chuckle.

Veronica smiled, but the smile vanished a moment later, when Wallace spoke again. "It's okay if you don't, but mind telling me just what the hell you were doing? I peeked through the door and saw something on that screen that makes me want to bleach my eyes out."

"You're not gonna say anything about this whole thing." Veronica said; she didn't phrase it as a question, but like a command. Wallace swallowed a lump, but nodded nonetheless.

"I won't, but you gotta admit you keep doing things that no ordinary teenager does, Veronica."

They'd reached the lobby now and Veronica turned to Wallace with a look in her eyes that made her look older than her sixteen years. "Whoever said I was ordinary? I'll see you tomorrow, Fennel."

"So," Wallace shook off the weird vibes that the small blonde emitted with difficulty, "you're actually gonna stop ignoring me in school now? I'm honored."

"You should be, I'm awesome."

"You really don't lack any confidence, do you?" Wallace could feel his like of the secretive girl grow more by the minute.

Veronica smiled and exited the hotel, while saying, "Why should I? There's really nothing this town or its occupants can do that rattles me. See ya."

**0o0o0o0**

Lilly was pleasantly tired when she came home to the Kane mansion that evening. _Say what you want about Aaron_ , she thought with a naughty smile, _there's just something about the Echolls men. Too bad Logan doesn't have a brother so I could go for a hattrick._

The thought of Logan kept Lilly from being completely satisfied though, despite the numerous rounds she'd taken with his father that day. If she was completely honest with herself, something that very rarely happened; Lilly did feel a tiny bit of guilt over the whole sleeping with his dad thing.

 _Well, he dumped me, so he deserves whatever he gets_ , Lilly told her more cautious side and stretched out her used limbs.

"Where've you been? And why do you look like you've been tumbling around in a-" Celeste Kane's disapproving voice interrupted Lilly in her internal debate and she looked over at her "pretend to be proper" mother. Lilly hated the façade that her mother put up around herself and the entire family. No matter, how posh and snobbish she acted, it wouldn't change the fact that she'd been five months pregnant when Jake finally gave her that shiny wedding ring on her manicured finger.

"Maybe because I've been tumbling around in a…." Lilly replied with a mocking lift of her perfectly plucked eyebrow. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Mother dear, I'm positively famished."

Without paying the least bit of respect to her mother, Lilly walked out into the kitchen and ordered the maid to make her a sandwich. A few minutes later, she walked upstairs to her room. On the way, she caught a glimpse of Duncan through his half opened bedroom door.

Her baby brother was sitting with his head in his hands, looking the part of a devastated boy. His entire body screamed that he was not in a good mood. Lilly rolled her eyes at the dramatics and decided to let him stew in his recent breakup for a little while before trying to set him up with some of her other, more trustworthy friends.

The thought of Nicole's betrayal was still a sore subject for Lilly and she quickly squelched the memory of Nicole's hurt eyes in the quad when Duncan had broken things off with her so abruptly. _She can't eat her cake and have it too_ ; Lilly rationalized and took a big bite of her chicken sandwich.

 _I just wish she hadn't let me down though_ , Lilly admitted in the privacy of her own room. Nicole had been a permanent fixture in Lilly's life for as long as she could remember and then to have her abandon her for that annoying, creepy know-it-all of a twin sister…Well that was just too much to bear, quite frankly.

"But don't you worry," Lilly muttered when she finished her first bite, "I'll make sure Veronica goes down a peg or two…Oh, that reminds me!"

Lilly sat down her plate and looked at her expensive wristwatch. _He's due to check in any minute now_. The Kane girl had a secret weapon; his name was Clarence Weidman and she'd asked him to look into Veronica to see if there was something that she could use as leverage so to speak.

 _I hope there's some big scandal in her life, that way I can really ruin her_ , Lilly practically giggled with glee at the thought. Her cell phone rang and put her fantasies to rest for the moment.

Checking the caller id, Lilly answered with a smile, "Find anything, C.W?"

Clarence's deep voice answered tightly, "You might say that Miss Kane. We need to meet somewhere private. I don't think we should do this over the phone. It's not safe…"

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**


	11. Chapter Ten: Two Blondes And An Actor Equals Trouble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for any of the massive errors I've missed today. Have just returned home from work and am beyond exhausted so too wiped to reread multiple times.   
> Hope you manage to enjoy regardless!
> 
> Also this chapter is full of violence and an attempted rape so be warned about the lack of fluffiness.

**Chapter Ten: Two Blondes And An Actor Equals Trouble**

"You're hiding something," the smug voice interrupted Veronica's quiet study time in the quad. Veronica had been sitting and enjoying a rare moment of solitude while doing some of her hated homework.

She didn't bother looking up when Lilly's shadow fell over her; instead she turned a page in her book and ignored the rich blonde.

Lilly didn't quite hiss in annoyance, but it was close. She leaned down and whispered into Veronica's ear, "I said, I know you're hiding something and I also know what that something is."

Immediately, Veronica leapt to her feet and grabbed hold of Lilly's arm, dragging her to a more secluded area to continue the conversation.

On the inside, Veronica was fuming and her heart was racing with a rare case of fear, _If she knows the truth, she's gonna blabber it around. That girl can't keep a secret to save her life when it's got potential to take down one of her enemies. What do I do? Do I take her out?_ Veronica dismissed the thought as soon as it entered her mind, _no it would be too much of a hassle and Nicole probably would be devastated. And Keith would somehow figure out the truth, I just know it. I can't do anything to disrupt the calm we've got going on right now; he doesn't know the truth but something tells me that he's close to sniffing something out_ …

"Excuse me, I don't particularly enjoy your touch so let me the hell go."

Lilly's voice brought Veronica's mind back to the present and she squeezed Lilly's arm a little harder before letting her go.

"Whoops, sometimes I don't know my own strength. Now," Veronica's voice turned deadly, "what is it that you _think_ you know, Miss Kane."

Lilly's face turned back into that smug visage she'd shown just moments earlier, but there was a brief flash of something in her eyes that warned Veronica not to believe everything that came out of the other girl's mouth.

"Well, I guess I should start by saying that my bodyguard of sorts used to work with a certain uncle of yours."

Veronica had never been more thankful for her acting abilities than in that moment, she simply raised an eyebrow nonchalantly, "Oh? My uncle worked with a lot of people in his life. Why should I worry about this one person?"

Lilly lost a bit of the sparkle in her eyes, but she soldiered on despite Veronica's lack of emotions, "Well, C.W worked in the CIA before he decided to get a better paying job. Not that I think he uses the cash for anything, I mean the man rarely wears anything than boring suits and-"

"I see," Veronica interjected coolly, finally allowing her heart rate to slow down a bit and she let out an inwardly sigh of relief. There was no way that this so called bodyguard would say anything about her uncle or Veronica. Veronica knew this because three years ago, she'd helped save his life when he'd been on a freelance job that just so happened to land him in the middle of a big pile of trouble that Veronica and her uncle were involved in.

" _You see_? Is that all you have to say?" Lilly copied Veronica's raised brow and leaned forward a bit, "I know your uncle worked for the CIA and that's probably not something you want publicized or whatever."

Veronica actually laughed at this, "really, Kane? _That's_ all you got? I don't care if people find out that my uncle died for his country," she stressed the last part a little bit and continued, "besides I don't see why that would be so interesting to you anyway? I bet your C.W didn't tell you diddily squat and you're just bluffing, hoping to get me to say stuff that really is none of your business."

Lilly's eyes lost their twinkle entirely and Veronica knew she'd hit the jackpot. She glanced around, making sure they were truly alone and leaned forward herself to whisper coldly, "Now that the shoe is on the other foot so to speak, I want something from you and believe me," Veronica sent Lilly a chilled smile, "I'm _not_ bluffing when I say that I know something too…"

**0o0o0o0**

A few hours later, Lilly Kane was seething in her car. She had just pulled into the Echolls' parking lot where she was about to do something that she hadn't planned on doing for a little while yet. _And it's all because of that stupid blonde,_ Lilly grumbled silently.

And it had all started as such a great day, Lilly reminisced. After her talk with C.W where he'd disappointed her by refusing to tell her anything other than he'd worked with Veronica's uncle and that she should stay out of Veronica's way for her own safety, Lilly had decided to try and shake up the irritating girl no matter the consequences.

At first it had seemed to work perfectly, there had been a brief moment where Veronica's entire tiny body stiffened in what Lilly only hoped was fear, before she slammed a blank mask over her face and regained her iron control.

"And that's when it all turned bad," Lilly muttered and started rummaging through her beloved Vuitton bag for her smaller, but equally as pricy purse.

Veronica had not only threatened to destroy her reputation by showing everyone in school a tape of her and Aaron going at it in the Grande, but Veronica had taken things a step further and promised to make her life more than a living hell if she didn't stop laying into Nicole.

 _It's not like I even enjoyed making fun of Nikki_ , Lilly defended herself as she finally got out of her car, _but she just had to see that suddenly turning her allegiance away from me is just_ not _acceptable._

Thoughts of her best friend's sad eyes suddenly wanted to overtake Lilly's rarely used sense of guilt and she quickly refocused on Veronica's demands. One of which she was on her way to fulfill right now.

Breaking things off with Aaron Echolls _. With my own little twist to it, of course_ , Lilly added mentally and smirked as she rang the doorbell.

The door opened only a few seconds later, revealing the old woman that Lilly vaguely recalled was Eli's grandmother. Sending the Latina a condescending look she patted her on the arm, "I'm just gonna go talk with the master of the house; you go back down to the kitchens or whatever hidey hole you have, okay?"

Without caring if the maid understood her, and especially without listening to that Nicole sounding voice inside her that scolded her for her rudeness, Lilly continued into the room she knew was Aaron's private office.

"Hey, you," she greeted with a flirtatious smile at the older actor sitting going over yet another script for yet another B listed movie. "Got a sec'?"

Aaron's eyes, that Logan had inherited, lit up with lust as they trailed down her body. "For you, always. We can go to the pool house and get more comfortable if you so desire."

Lilly watched in silence as the actor gracefully got to his feet and started making his way over to her. She put up a hand to stop him from reaching her completely and smiled coldly, "Not happening, Mr. Echolls. I'm actually here to talk business. But you're right; we do need to be somewhere more secluded."

Lilly turned and started walking outside where she sat down in one of the chaise lounges at the edge of the pool. The sun was warming her skin nicely and Lilly felt confident as she waited for her now ex-lover to sit down beside her.

When Aaron had placed himself a bit too closely to her, Lilly smiled again and burst out with her agenda, "We're done. You're boring me and oh, I'm kindda on a tight leash lately at home due to something or other with me using too much money so, I'm gonna need cash from you to stop me from going public with our little trusts."

As soon as she'd finished her thinly veiled threat, Lilly knew she was in danger and started inching slowly backwards. The air was heavy with dangerous tension. Aaron's hand snapped out and grabbed her wrist tightly without breaking that cold stare of his once. "Really? You come into my house and threaten me, girl? You really are dumber than I ever gave you credit for."

A painful twist and Lilly could practically feel the bones creak in her wrist and she groaned softly at the pain. "Let go of me," she got out through her gritted teeth, but her tormenter simply smirked and squeezed harder.

"Let's get a few things straightened out," Aaron's eyes had turned dark and there was a glint of something pure evil that made Lilly's heart beat faster – and not in the good way. "We're done when I say we're done and you are going to submit to me because you're just a little bitch in heat that needs to learn her place!"

Aaron stood up, pulling Lilly's smaller frame with him. He wrapped his free hand into her long golden locks and tore her head back viciously before planting his lips upon her violently. A few seconds later, he pulled back with an almost inhuman snarl on his now bleeding bottom lip.

Lilly barely had time to be smug before the man in front of her had twisted his arm free and slapped her hard on her cheek. "You annoying little harlot!"

Lilly swallowed the whimper of pain that wanted to escape from her mouth before sneering in her best "better than you", tone of voice, "I _said_ , let go of me."'

The actor had the audacity to laugh and Lilly used her one free hand to reciprocate the slap. Then she wished that she hadn't done anything; that she'd just ended things without ever trying to threaten money out of the now clearly insane star.

The moment her hand connected with Aaron's cheek, his entire face transformed into something truly ugly. "Stupid girl," he hissed and then the beating started.

This time, Lilly couldn't reign in her whimpers of pain and it didn't take long before she was lying on the ground, curled up in an attempt to protect herself from the more heavy hits that continued to fall on her. She was crying and screaming for mercy with a voice that didn't even sound like hers.

"Shut up! I'll stop as soon as I've beaten some respect into you, girl!" Lilly moaned as a particular nasty hit connected with her sore skin, but only seconds later, she prayed for more because Aaron's attention suddenly turned sexual and he'd thrown himself down on her body and she could feel him push her panties aside while opening up his pants.

"Please, please, I'll be good," Lilly begged, "I do whatever you want, please just stop, stop, _please_!"

Aaron chuckled darkly in her ear, "Why wait for you to give when I can just as easily take? Now shut up and let me enjoy myself." He ended the order with grabbing her head and slamming it into the tiles.

Lilly's head pounded in pain and her vision was blurry. She could taste blood in her mouth and briefly wondered if her tongue had been bit in two before losing her train of thoughts. Aaron's touches, touches that she used to love, now made her sick and she felt bile grow in her mouth. _I'll change_ , she prayed, _I'll be different, just please let me black out so I won't remember this…_

Lilly didn't dare hope for any kind of rescue, in fact she barely held onto any hope of genuine survival once Aaron was through with her; she just wished for darkness and sweet bliss of unconsciousness. She should've known that no one was listening…or maybe something was, because suddenly Aaron's heavy body was all but torn away from her and Lilly was free.

Lilly watched through tear-filled eyes as the most unlikely person in the world came to her rescue. Veronica something Mars.

The small blonde stood with her back facing Lilly, her position indicated that she was clearly knowledgeable in the arts of self-defense. She didn't look frightened at all and Lilly blinked in confusion, ignoring both the pain and the tears trailing down her cheeks.

Aaron didn't stay out of function for long; he got to his feet quickly and made his way over to Veronica. He opened his mouth, no doubt about to threaten the tiny female into capitulation, but before he even got one syllable out, Veronica was on him.

Lilly watched in awe and with no small amount of fear, how Veronica simply beat Aaron to the ground. The much larger man was cowering with his, much deserved, pain as Veronica kicked, punched and just pure abused him. It was a frightening sight to behold and Lilly's swimming vision loved every second of it.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?" An unexpected voice suddenly rang out into the pool area and Lilly dizzily recognized it as belonging to Logan. "Get the hell off my father!"

Lilly observed how Logan roughly pushed Veronica off the moaning Aaron, sending her into the pool. He ignored his surroundings, focusing on his dad. "Dad, here are your keys – if you can drive, go to Dr. Jenkins, I'll call him as soon as I'm done with that crazy bitch, okay?"

Aaron was helped to his feet and then he stumbled off towards his car. Lilly wanted to scream obscenities, warn Logan what a terrible mistake he'd just made, but her tongue wouldn't cooperate.

Fortunately for Lilly, Veronica's mouth didn't lack in power. In that moment, she jumped out of the pool, soaked to the bone and she was cursing in multiple languages at the equally as furious Echolls Junior.

Veronica was interrupted in her cursing when she moved to block Logan's would be push in her shoulder. She promptly kicked out with her leg and sent the tall teen to the ground with a small bang. "You should really know all the facts before you butt into things that aren't any of your damn business," Veronica sneered and turned to walk over to Lilly.

"You're such a little know it all weirdo, I can't _believe_ I ever wanted to…You just go fuck yourself!"

As Veronica crouched next to Lilly, acting like Logan's words didn't affect her at all; she started pulling the hurt girl to her feet, Lilly spotted the exact moment when Logan became aware of her being there. "Lils? What the-? What happened?"

Veronica slung Lilly's arm over her shoulder and took a gentle hold of her waist at the same time as she answered the confused Logan coldly, "Your beloved _Daddy_ happened, Echolls. I came here just in time to pull him off her. By any chance, did you notice that your daddy's fly was open? Wonder what he intended to use his dingdong for?"

Logan paled and Lilly knew he was slowly connecting dots that she'd rather he didn't. Veronica didn't seem to care about Lilly's unspoken wishes or Logan's sensibility because she continued on ruthlessly, "Your dad's a psycho, Logan and Lilly's paying the price for her stupidity."

"V-Veronica," Lilly managed to get through her lips, "don't…he hasn't done anything wrong."

"Except from letting that lunatic escape," Veronica countered and started making her way to her car. Logan followed silently.

"I don't understand anything." He quietly said, his earlier rage oozing out of him, but not entirely forgotten as his eyes landed on the still dripping wet Veronica.

Veronica helped Lilly into her car and turned to Logan. She muttered something that Lilly couldn't hear, but judging from the shocked, betrayed and renewed angry look in Logan's eyes, she was willing to bet her inheritance that Veronica had filled him in on just what Lilly was doing in the Echolls Mansion in the first place.

A few minutes later, Veronica had left the fuming Logan to himself and was driving away without a second glance. Lilly did think that Veronica's eyes glinted with something akin to remorse when she glanced in the rear-view mirror at Logan before he vanished from her sight.

The two young women didn't speak. Lilly simply didn't know what to say and her aches were big enough to remind her that her mouth had gotten her into trouble in the first place and that she didn't need any more pain to go along with it.

It wasn't until she noticed that Veronica wasn't driving towards the hospital that Lilly finally took a deep breath and spoke. "You missed the exit for the hospital."

Veronica shrugged and turned left into a part of town that Lilly didn't recognize. "We're not going to any hospital, Kane. I'm thinking that taking you there would pose too many issues that I'm not willing to deal with right now. Especially since I want my involvement to remain a secret in all of this mess. I'm taking you somewhere safe."

A few miles later, Veronica stopped the car next to an apartment building that, in Lilly's opinion, didn't seem like much, "What is this place?" she asked hoarsely.

Veronica didn't answer and simply helped Lilly inside into a small apartment. The first thing Lilly noticed once she was inside was the punching bag that was hanging in the living room. The second thing she noticed was a couple of deadly looking knives lying on a small table in the middle of the room. Lilly looked briefly at the silent Veronica and decided that maybe C.W.'s warning hadn't been entirely without reason.

Veronica helped Lilly into the only comfortable looking armchair in the whole room and disappeared for a moment, coming back with a wet towel and some bandages. Twenty minutes later, Veronica had cleaned both herself and Lilly up, given her some painkillers and the two girls were now sitting in an uncomfortable silence together.

Finally, Lilly took the plunge, "I…err, Thank you for helping me."

Veronica met her gaze, "It was your own fault that it escalated to the point that it did, but seeing as I was the originator of the whole thing, I guess I should accept gracefully."

Lilly smiled, "So what happens now? Judging from your earlier words, I can't really see myself being allowed to press charges or anything."

Veronica smirked evilly and for the first time, Lilly realized that the girl in front of her was more like herself than she'd previously thought, "I have a plan. It'll mean that your reputation gets shot to hell, but Aaron Echolls will get a dose of what he deserves. You in?"

Lilly grinned again, ignoring the pain in her ribs the movement caused her. "Oh you bet I am."

**0o0o0o0**

The next day, Lilly was limping into the school next to Duncan. She ignored the looks and even managed to send a semi polite smile to Luke, who she'd called and broken things off with the night before in the gentlest way she'd ever broken up with anyone before.

 _Besides_ , she thought with a wry inwardly smile, _it's not likely that he's even gonna want to be seen with me after today._

People looked at her limping form oddly, but due to no small amount of makeup to hide any visible bruises, Lilly's schoolmates lost interest pretty quickly.

Of course, it returned tenfold during the last class before lunch. Lilly was sitting in the back with some of her friendlier frenemies when the screen on the wall next to the blackboard inexplicably turned on and a dark form with a muffled voice stated ominously, "Aaron Echolls, take one."

Scenes of their rump in the Grande flashed by and Lilly held her head up high in defiance. After all, she'd agreed to publicize the tapes that Veronica somehow had managed to get her hands on. Then Lilly's stoic mask faltered a bit when the dark form that only she knew belonged to Veronica showed up again and said coldly, "Aaron Echolls, take two."

Lilly watched in growing horror as the images of Aaron's loss of control was shown to the entire school. She watched in silence, how her own form cowered on the ground in a ball of trembling fear. Fortunately for Lilly's last piece of pride, there was no sound so no one would be able to hear how she'd begged for mercy, especially as the footage of Aaron's attempted rape flashed by.

The video ended abruptly the second before Veronica had pulled him off of Lilly and the clouded form on the screen returned for the final time, "Aaron Echolls, I'm coming for you…"

 _Damn that girl is good_ , Lilly felt the pinch of admiration clearly, but she put it away to ponder over later. Instead, she gathered her things and made her way outside to the quad. This time people didn't just send her odd looks, they whispered and pointed at her. She was pretty sure the word 'slut' came up a few times.

Just as she started to sit down on her regular seat, one of the other seniors, a girl named, Carol something, crossed her arms in a would be condescending manner. "And why do you think you have any right to sit here, home wrecker?"

"Because," the most unexpected of voices sounded in the sudden stillness, "she owns the damn thing so shut up."

Lilly swallowed a lump of trepidation and looked up into Logan's eyes. He was the one that she truly regretted having hurt in all of this, but like Veronica had pointed out, it had been necessary to go public with the video as a way to get Aaron into some major problems with the press.

"Hi Logan," she greeted quietly. "I'm sorry about-"

"No," Logan interrupted and sat down next to her, "You're aware that what you did was a shitty thing to do, but no one deserves what you went through so we're even or whatever."

And that was that, after Logan's support no one dared to make fun or otherwise belittle the Kane girl. Lilly actually caught herself thinking as Duncan and Logan reignited their friendship tentatively, that things were better this way.

Out of the corner of her eyes, Lilly spotted Veronica and Nicole walking with Weevil to their usual table. Veronica nodded to Lilly once before looking away and refocusing on Weevil. Nicole didn't even look in Lilly's direction and Lilly amended her earlier thoughts.

Maybe there were a few things that weren't all that good…

Lilly cast a look at Logan and noticed that his eyes trailed Veronica's form in much the same way that her own had just done Nicole's. _Maybe I'm not the only one that has some apologizing to do…_

**0o0o0o0**

The gurgling of the coffee machine was the only sound in the big office that Keith Mars owned. He was sitting at his desk, the door ajar to make sure he didn't miss either of his daughters coming in to do their work after school.

He was deeply engrossed in a report from Vinnie Van Lowe (say what you want about the guy, but he sure knew how to write some interesting reports and his detailed narrative style often reminded Keith just why he kept the less than honorable detective on the payroll.).

Suddenly, a sound interrupted Keith's reading and he looked up while his free hand was already grasping the handle of his hidden revolver under the desk drawer. Then he deflated slightly when he recognized the unexpected visitor.

"Mr. Wiedman, what can I do for you?"

The impeccably dressed head of security at the Kane estate nodded with a polite smile and sat down in the chair that Keith gestured towards. Then he took a deep breath and turned serious. "Well, Mr. Mars, I came to talk to you about your daughter, Veronica. I think there are some things that you need to know about her and her past."

Keith's face lost all emotion and he leaned back in his chair, linking his fingers together as he listened attentively. "I see…Well in that case, would you mind closing the door?"

**0o0o0o0**

**TBC…**

* * *


	12. A trying Day And An Unwelcome Visitor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, busy busy busy all of the sudden. I hope you'll like the newest installment and sorry in advance for the errors, I still have no beta :)

**Chapter Eleven: A trying Day And An Unwelcome Visitor**

 

" _I'm sorry for these last few days' misconception of my actions."_ Aaron Echolls' voice echoed through the Mars household's kitchen where Veronica, Nicole and Keith were all sitting and eating their breakfast, while watching the morning news.

Veronica's mixed coffee was forgotten halfway up to her lips as she watched the video of Aaron's apologetic face as he tried to salvage some of his lost popularity.

" _I'm sorry to all my fans for giving in to something so dark within me. Above all, I'm sorry that I've broken the trust that my loving family had in me. I hope you'll all help me help myself in the future and doesn't let that vigilante that's come forth with his or_ _ **hers**_ _thinly veiled threats. I will come forth as soon as I've gotten the help that I truly need and the truth is no longer a danger to me or my loved ones."_

"Bullshit," Veronica muttered as the screen faded back to the newscaster, who smiled an obviously fake cheerful smile and made the usual cheesy comments. "He didn't even apologize to his victim. He's just trying to kiss up to the lesser intelligent people that adore him."

Nicole nodded mutely and returned her attention to her cereal. She'd been talking less after all her confrontations and was nothing like the shallow girl that Veronica had first met upon arriving in Neptune. But she still had the ability to carry a grudge, like her sister, and wouldn't say anything about stuff that involved Lilly Kane in any way.

Keith, on the other hand, frowned briefly at Veronica's language, but the glint in his eyes revealed that he shared his daughter's opinion.

After a beat of silence, Keith said, "Well, I best be going to work and chat a bit with Vinnie. There's no one else greedy enough to help our crazy star with getting his oh so heartfelt message out there." He stood up and kissed first Nicole on her hair and then Veronica.

Veronica was surprised that she barely felt any need to move her head, _maybe I'm actually starting to like the guy_ , she pondered as the door slammed shut behind him a moment later. Inwardly, _deeply_ inside of her, Veronica knew that she actually really liked her father, but there was nothing short of an emergency that would make her say it out loud.

"Why has Dad been staring at you so oddly these last few days?" Nicole's voice brought Veronica back to the present with a frown that – unbeknownst to the undercover agent – made her look a lot like her birth father.

"He's always looking, Nicole," Veronica replied and finally remembered her now cold chocolate coffee and took a sip.

"Yeah, but haven't you noticed that he's staring holes in you? It's kinda hard to miss, actually."

Veronica looked at her twin, and saw the seriousness in the other girl's eyes and thought back at her time with Keith over the last few days. Honestly, she knew she hadn't spent a lot of time with him, and when she had been in his presence, Veronica's mind had usually been on other stuff.

But now that Nicole had mentioned it, Veronica would definitely be more aware. "Not really," she eventually answered, "but I'll look into it and see what's going on, okay?"

Nicole smiled and got up to rinse her plate and put it in the dishwater. Just as she'd placed it under the water, there was a knock on the door and Veronica smiled in gratitude when Nicole just muttered that she'd answer it so Veronica could finish eating.

A few moments later, Nicole reentered the kitchen with a blank look on her face. Immediately, all of Veronica's instincts were screaming. "What's wrong, Nikki?"

"It's for you," was all Nicole said and she walked over and started clearing the table quietly. Veronica noticed the quivering lip and frowned again.

When she walked out into the hall and spotted who her visitor was, it all made sense to Veronica.

Lilly Kane was standing on the doorstep looking just as sad as Nicole was in the kitchen, but there was also a spark of happiness in the billionaire heir's eyes. Veronica raised a brow and Lilly explained, "She didn't slam the door in my face and we both know I'd deserve it if she'd done it."

Nodding, Veronica gestured for her new, well; _friend_ was still a bit strong word to use. "Come on in."

Lilly followed the smaller blonde upstairs and Veronica opened the door to her room. Back-up reared his head from the massive amounts of blankets on the bed and blinked sleepily at their arrival before snorting and turning away.

Veronica smiled at the look of confusion on Lilly's face. Apparently, she'd expected the growling beast that she'd become acquainted with on a few occasions and not this…this puppy.

"He can feel that I don't hate your guts anymore and that's why he's not attacking you. That and," Veronica grinned, "he's really a lazy dog and takes his time waking up in the mornings."

Lilly smiled tentatively and crossed the threshold into Veronica's room with noticable trepidation. Veronica distracted her by asking her what she wanted.

Sighing, Lilly sat down on Veronica desk chair. "Well, I actually came to fetch you to be honest. Sheriff Lamb wants to interrogate me about what he saw in those clips and I want you there to make sure I don't slip up and reveal stuff that isn't really important."

The mental picture of the sheriff the one time she'd met him, flashed through Veronica's mind. _He seemed to be a lot smarter than I'd expected. Lilly's made a good call to get me involved. She's smart, but he's slippery and I'll bet he'll wiggle my involvement out of her by a lot of cross questioning._

 _"_ Let's go then." Veronica said and the two girls walked downstairs again and out to Lilly's car. Out of the corner of her mind, Veronica spotted Nicole's face in the kitchen window and she knew she needed to make things better between the two friends again soon.

An hour later, Lilly and Veronica was sitting on two uncomfortable chairs in the interrogation room at the Sheriff's office. Lamb was sitting casually with his right arm on the table, nursing a cup of coffee. Lilly was sweating and retelling the whole story (except for Veronica's involvement) yet again and Veronica herself was sitting quietly next to Lilly, staring unblinkingly at the sheriff.

Lamb asked the same question that he'd asked fifteen minutes ago, albeit with a different wording and Veronica's patience finally snapped. She held out a hand to Lilly, signaling her to stop speaking and turned all her attention on the man in front of her.

He didn't look intimidated by her stare at all, in fact, Veronica thought she caught a glimpse of amusement and she didn't appreciate that at all. "We're already late for school, Sheriff," she stated coldly, "we're underage – both of us – and Lilly has answered everything you wanted to know in good faith, so stop acting like a cop in a bad eighties cop show and let us go. Or we _might_ just have to get some of the Kane lawyers involved. And trust me; there's no way a small town sheriff is gonna be able to, let's say, find the funds to clothe himself after a round with them."

Lilly was outright gawping at Veronica and her blunt threat, the unnamed cop in the corner had spluttered some of his coffee out of his mouth, nearly choking by the sound of it and Lamb was still sitting calmly at the table, not even flinching.

Veronica's respect for the man went up a notch. She'd remembered halfway through the interrogation that he'd been trained by none other than her father and thus she wasn't in the least bit surprised by his intelligence anymore.

After a few minutes of intense silence, where the thirty year old sheriff and the sixteen year old girl stared at each other without moving, Lamb finally sighed and let them go.

On her way out, Lamb's voice stopped Veronica short. She turned as he spoke. "You're good Miss Mars. We could use someone like you here. Would you be interested in an internship?"

"I have a job," Veronica answered, feigning casual surprise and not revealing her honest shock over the offer that had come from out of nowhere.

Lamb smiled and nodded, allowing her to go without another word.

When Veronica reached Lilly's fancy car, the Kane girl wanted to know what had kept her. "I think he just wanted to see if I'd want to be a cop some day," Veronica said and ignored the confused look that Lilly sent her. "Drive, we're already late as it is."

Sighing, Lilly nodded and Veronica was glad that the blonde was too proud to spew out grateful thanks for her assistance. _We really are a lot alike_ , Veronica thought with a small smirk as Lilly's car roared to life.

**0o0o0**

Nicole wasn't a bad person. At least she didn't _think_ she was. She was good to animals, polite to people that she didn't really know and she didn't go around mocking everyone. In fact the only one she'd ever tried that on had been Veronica and that hadn't exactly worked as planned, had it?

That said, Nicole had no doubt that she shared something darkish with her twin. Because every time she laid her eyes on Duncan Kane or Lilly Kane, Nicole wanted nothing more than to throw something heavy at them and curse them out.

Lilly's betrayal had cut her deep, because of their friendship, but Duncan's betrayal had hurt because they were supposed to be in love.

And now that Lilly had outed herself like a slut, here Duncan was with his puppy dog eyes, practically begging her to get back together with him. _Well_ , Nicole thought and turned away from her ex-boyfriends pathetic stare during lunch, _that's not gonna happen. Veronica might be all buddy buddy with Lilly now, but I'm not that easily swayed. No matter how tempted I might feel occasionally…_

"What's up with you?"

Nicole started, dropping her banana and looked up into Weevil's dark, but surprisingly friendly gaze. "W-what? How-What?"

Weevil grinned and settled down next to her with a homemade lunch in his hand. "You looked like you wanted to go all "Veronica" on your ex over there. Want me to handle your pretty boy troubles for ya?"

Nicole started again and put her hands on top of Weevil's, "no, no. I don't condone violence Eli and you know that. " She trailed off uncertainly because suddenly, Nicole realized just how warm Eli's skin was. _And he smells really good too_ , she thought, fighting off a blush.

Weevil's eyes seemed to sparkle and it did something to Nicole that she was pretty sure Duncan's looks had never done to her. _Why have I never noticed how handsome Eli really is_?

Weevil blinked and leaned forward an inch. "You know, it can be dangerous to look at a guy like that. You never know what it'll do to them…"

This time, Nicole's blush wasn't able to be stopped and it seemed to please Weevil immensely because he simply grinned and nudged her a bit before starting in on his lunch.

Nicole's mood had been lifted and she was just about to say something teasing about the way the biker ate, when she spotted her sister arrive with Lilly close to her side and the good mood immediately evaporated.

 _Why is she suddenly so good friends with her? Veronica knows how much Lilly hurt me…it can't be because Lilly's cheating got her injured, it has to be more than that. Veronica is too tough a person to let a little abuse alter her opinions_ …

Nicole's hurt over Lilly's betrayal intensified when she saw her former friend smile happily at Veronica. _I thought Veronica and I were growing closer? What is going on? Argh, I hate them both so much right now!_

In that moment, Veronica looked over at Nicole with a small smile gracing her lips and Nicole suddenly couldn't look away. She did, however, try to convey just how unhappy she was with Veronica's current company. _I'll corner her later at home and force her to tell me what's been going on. She's not the only Mars that can be scary_!

**0o0o0**

"Could we talk?"

Logan's voice ripped Veronica out of the staring contest she'd been having with Nicole and she looked up at the boy that she sort of, _maybe_ , kind of had some attachment to.

"I prefer not to talk to assholes," Veronica snapped and looked away. Logan's eyes glared holes into her side, and before she knew how he managed it, he'd grabbed her arm and was pulling her toward a more private space.

"Well, me neither, but I still need to talk to you," he hissed and opened a door that led into one of the empty classrooms that was rarely used.

"Hey, did you just call me an asshole?" Veronica felt a surge of unexplainable anger rush through her. _How dare he insult me that son of a bitch_?

"It takes one to know one, I guess," Logan replied, slamming the door so hard that the pictures on the wall rattled. "Now I need you to stand still, shut the hell up and let me talk for a second!"

"I don't want to talk to you," Veronica said, crossing her arms. She longed to grab one of her hidden knives and plant it somewhere extremely painful on the boy in front of her, but she repressed the impulse and tried walking by him to the door.

"Oh no," Logan growled and grabbed her, "no running away until I've had my say!"

Veronica twisted out of his grip and stepped backwards a bit. _His reach is longer than mine and judging from the muscles I just felt he's no slouch and could probably get one over me if I'm not careful. I guess I'll have to listen for a few seconds_ ; she concluded and straightened up, looking the Echolls' heir in the eyes with anger pouring out of her every pore.

She really had no idea why she was so angry at him. He'd only defended his father as any normal kid would, but still; she couldn't deny that his insults had torn something inside of her that she didn't even know was there in the first place.

Taking her silence for agreement, Logan jumped into it. "Look, I know I messed up, okay? I didn't know what was happening and I'd never let that crazy idiot escape if I'd known everything. I'm sorry, okay. I didn't mean anything by it; I just wanted to help my dad…"

Something flew into Veronica in that moment, and although she knew she was crossing a line, she did it anyway. "I don't get why you'd even lend a hand to him in the first place, considering his loose hands in private. Or do you actually like being beaten every now and again? Because-"

"Shut up, you have _no_ right to talk about that!" Logan's eyes burned into Veronica's and she knew that his earlier anger was nothing to the eruption of rage she was now witnessing. "Where the hell did you find out about that?" he hissed again, stepping a few steps closer, "I swear if you tell anyone, I'll make sure you won't see your next sunrise."

"Uh, threatening girls, the apple seldom falls far from the three," Veronica taunted evilly, while inwardly, she was screaming at herself to just. Stop. _Talking_!

Logan's teeth made a screeching sound as he obviously tried to not lay a hand on her in retaliation. Then he blinked and turned cold. All his emotions vanished as though they'd never existed and Veronica felt a never before felt shiver of fear.

Logan's hazel eyes glued her to her spot and then he spoke and Veronica's own anger drowned out her guilt in a heartbeat, "At least I wasn't abandoned by _my_ mother. At least, I know I'm lovable. Maybe she left you because you're not, ever think of _that_?"

The punch that she threw at him didn't break his nose and Veronica practically snarled with disappointment and jumped forward, eager to succeed on her second try.

To her surprise, Logan showed some skill of his own. He twisted out of her reach and spun around, grapping her leg and pulling so her balance flew out the window. He never actually hit her, but his quick and fluent movements swallowed every hit that she sent his way and she never touched him again.

Somehow he'd managed to get her up against the wall and they were both breathing hard, their scuffle had taken a lot out of them. He was holding both of Veronica's arms over her head in a painful grip and his lower body had trapped her legs, so she couldn't even kick him in the groin.

Then their anger changed into something else and suddenly, Logan's warm lips was on hers and they were kissing each other like they had been made for just that purpose.

Together they created a fire unlike any other as their lips attacked each other and their hands tore at their clothes. Veronica couldn't think of anything else than the tongue in her mouth, the rough hands on her chest and the feel of his warm skin under her fingertips. She could die a happy woman at that moment.

"Oh, my God," a voice interrupted their furious make out session and Veronica and Logan flew from each other's side to look at the intruder, who happened to be Vice Principal Clemmons of all people.

For the first time in her life, Veronica felt the unmerciful wave of embarrassment. She only just realized that she was clad only in her jeans and bra. Logan was topless as well and Veronica vaguely wondered how they'd managed to keep kissing through all of that, before Clemmons spoke again.

"You two kids better put your clothes back on and we'll pretend I didn't just see what I think I saw." Clemmons escaped and looked flustered and Veronica knew that she'd be laughing under normal circumstances, but at that moment, nothing was even remotely funny to her.

She bent down and grabbed her shirt and had buttoned it halfway when Logan stepped closer to her again. His eyes looked confused and the hint of lust was still there and it did strange things to Veronica's fragile peace of mind. Never in her life, had Veronica felt anything that came close to what she'd felt in her entire being during Logan's kiss. And frankly, it scared the agent more than anything else.

"Veronica-" Logan started, but Veronica held up a hand.

"I can't do this, I can't form bonds – I'm sorry, Logan." She turned around and ignored the call behind her as she ran away like the coward she suddenly knew she was.

The rest of the school day went by without anything remotely interesting happening. And for once, Veronica was happy about that, because that meant she could think about everything without worries. The teachers had learned by now not to call on Veronica in class so she had plenty of time to think.

During the breaks between classes, Veronica used all her not too shabby skill of stealth and avoided Logan at all costs. The look of confusion and hurt she'd spotted in his gaze before fleeing earlier had been enough to melt some of her firm belief that she needed to be sharp for future jobs, and that she didn't need anyone in her life to tie her down emotionally.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, school was out for the day. When Veronica reached the parking lot, she remembered that Lilly had actually driven her to school that day so she didn't have any other option than to walk home. Still, she expertly scanned her surroundings to see if perhaps Nicole's car was still there, but sadly it wasn't and Veronica remembered Nicole telling her at breakfast that she was going to her Pilates' class after school and wouldn't be home until after seven o'clock.

"Damn it," Veronica muttered and started making her way home.

She'd only walked ten minutes, when she recognized the rumbling behind her as Weevil on his bike. She stopped and waited for him to reach her. "Hey, wanna give a gal a lift?" she asked, tilting her head innocently; she'd already figured out that the Latino couldn't resist the head tilt.

"Sure," he grinned, handing her a helmet, "let's roll, Beautiful."

A few minutes later, they pulled into the huge gravel coated entrance to the Mars' house and Veronica jumped off. She noticed an unfamiliar car next to the Le Baron and shrugged, figuring it was one of Keith's clients on a house visit.

"Say," Weevil suddenly sounded a lot like the actual teen that he was, "is your sister home?"

Veronica raised an eyebrow when she recognized the look in her best friend's eyes. _I guess, I'm not the only one meddling with romance_ , she thought with an inwardly sigh. Outwardly, Veronica told her biker friend about the Pilates and he nodded in thanks.

"See ya tomorrow, Chica," he called out as he started his bike again and drove away. Presumably to do something that she shouldn't really condone giving her past employer. Veronica smiled and started walking towards the house, feeling a bit like herself for the first time since Logan's and hers little rendezvous.

Once inside, Veronica greeted Back-up as he ran to her with a yelp of happy greeting and she crouched low to pet him. He licked her nose and she rubbed his ears in thanks, he always lifted her spirits like none other. Dropping her bag, Veronica decided to go to the kitchen to grab something to eat. _Maybe I'll choke and all my troubles will be over_ , she thought gloomily.

Okay, so maybe her mood hadn't lifted all that much, come to think of it.

"Veronica, Sweetie; could you come to my office?" Keith's voice rang through the hall and Veronica frowned.

For the first time since Nicole had brought it to her attention, Veronica considered her twin's warning. _Maybe there's something going on after all_? She thought and changed direction and headed towards Keith's office.

When she reached the half opened door, Veronica pushed it and stopped dead in her track. One quick scan revealed an ashen faced Keith, who was staring at her with something akin to fear in his eyes, but that wasn't really what she cared about at the moment.

No, all of Veronica's attention was on the small blonde standing awkwardly in front of Keith's desk. Her long blonde hair was the exact same shade as Veronica's and the color of the woman's eyes gave away her identity even before Keith spoke.

"Judging from your expression, I think you already know our guest. She came because she only just recently heard about your uncle's death, Sweetie. But I guess an introduction is in order since you haven't actually ever spoken to her before. Veronica, meet Lianne. Your mother."

Lianne's blue-grey eyes were shining as though they were coated in tears that wouldn't fall, and she smiled tentatively at her youngest daughter. "Hey Honey."

Veronica stood immobile for one long second, before opening her mouth and saying exactly what she felt.

"Oh, give me a break, already!"

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**

 

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the lovely feedback I receive, it's the main reason I just love you all so very much :D   
> Until Next Time!!


	13. Confrontations, Offers and Unsaid Goodbyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're all gonna hate me for the cliffie, of that I have no doubt...That said, I really hope you like it!

**Chapter Twelve: Confrontations, Offers and Unsaid Goodbyes**

 

It had been a month since Lianne had reentered their lives and it seemed like Veronica was the only one that remembered that this woman had snuck out of town with a baby and left the rest of her family in shattered ruins.

Then she'd started drinking and with Veronica barely out of diapers, Lianne had abandoned her second baby in the hands of a CIA agent, that had a hard time figuring out that babies were supposed to be _delicate_.

Although, Veronica knew she'd had a good life with her uncle and his wife before her too early passing, she still hated the woman sitting in front of her in the Mars' dining room, entertaining her other daughter with exotic tales of her life.

Veronica scowled when she once again saw the almost awed look Nicole kept sending Lianne, like she was the best thing since sliced bread. _And she's not even the worst one_ , Veronica though sourly, sipping at the water that was the only thing she'd touch whenever Lianne cooked. _Keith seemed so smart once upon a time, but ever since Lianne walked back into our lives, he's been looking at her like a subject at a queen and it grosses me out_!

"What do you think, Veronica?" Lianne's sickening sweet voice suddenly sounded and Veronica blinked out of her musings reluctantly.

She stared just long enough at her birth parent to make everyone realize that she was only answering because she had to, to avoid yet another argument breaking out. "I didn't see much of Paris' tourist places when I was there, so I have no opinion on the matter."

Before anyone could say anything else, Veronica nodded briefly at Lianne and left the table without saying another word.

Later that night, Nicole came bouncing in to Veronica's room with a gleeful smile on her face that annoyed the freelance agent more than anything. She couldn't understand how Lianne's bribes of expensive clothing and farfetched tales of guilt and remorse had convinced Nicole of their mother's love. It was ridiculous.

"We're going shopping in Beverly Hills this weekend," Nicole announced, "Mom has already booked our rooms at the Hilton, Veronica so you'll have to ask Daddy if he'll watch your dog; apparently she knows the Hiltons so-"

"I have no intention of spending my weekend or _any_ other days with that woman, Nicole." Veronica interjected coolly and continued checking her email. She'd sent one the other night to Michael Vaughn, asking him to check up on Lianne discreetly and was still impatiently waiting for his reply. She sighed, ignoring the now frowning Nicole, when she didn't see anything from her fellow agent.

"Look," Nicole's patience was on par with Veronica's, so she didn't wait long to try and change her mind, "I know you're still angry at Mom for doing what she did, but she wasn't right inside when she had us. She even told us about that treatment center, remember? I think she deserves a chance to get to know us."

" _Really_?" Veronica asked, turning her head a fraction away from the screen in front of her, " _I_ think she deserves something completely different than that. In fact, I'd even venture so far as to say she deserves _nothing_ from me, _or_ you _or_ Keith."

"You need to relax," Nicole said with a huff and left the room, presumably to tattle about Veronica's refusal to spend time with Lianne to Keith.

Veronica rolled her eyes and walked over and closed the door. She looked around the room and suddenly she felt the need for solitude, so within minutes, she'd climbed out the window and jumped into her car and was on her way to her second, more private apartment.

As she entered the place that was all hers, Veronica let out a heavy sigh of relief. Then she changed into some of her spare sweats that she kept in her second bedroom and started exercising so hard that all the thoughts that usually rattled in her brain finally disappeared. Only then, did Veronica fall onto her used couch and slept like the dead.

Early the next morning, Veronica sent a text to Keith and lied that she'd woken up early and left before breakfast to spend some time in school to go over some stuff; she didn't want to come home and find that look of fear of abandonment in his eyes ever again.

As she parked the car in the school's parking lot, Veronica snorted. _It's_ _not like he even remembers those fears right now. He's so caught up in everything that that she-devil is doing that I might as well be standing there wearing Harry Potter's invisibility cloak_.

"Mornin' Veronica," Veronica started uncharacteristically and spun around to lock eyes with Cassidy Cassablancas. He was looking especially cheerful that morning and it was so out of character for the silent little brother of Dick's that Veronica looked closer.

And that's when she saw it; the smile was brittle and the look he portrayed in his eyes was the same fake one she'd used when she'd been sent to a psychiatrist by her uncle after her first kill in the field.

"Are you okay?" Veronica asked, quietly making sure that no one was within earshot. Her concern was visible and it seemed to touch something inside of the younger boy's chest because he swallowed violently and nodded with even more forced cheer.

Veronica had risen in the Agency because she was good at her job, damn near animalistic with her instincts and they were screaming at her that something was _wrong_. And she wanted to figure out a mystery that was in no way related to herself for a change. It might have been a bit selfish, but Veronica honestly didn't like the haunted look in Cassidy's eyes, so she ignored her internal lecture voice and gently placed her hand on his shoulder.

He flinched, but the eerie smile didn't falter one bit as he repeated a bit louder that he was fine. He was clenching a newspaper in his hands and Veronica glanced down at it and spotted a picture of a handsome middle-aged man. The title of the article wasn't entirely visible, but Veronica caught enough to know that it was a picture of a man named, Woody Goodman.

Evidently, he had something to do with Cassidy's odd behavior and Veronica had a growing desire to figure out what was going on.

"Whatever it is, Cassidy," Veronica whispered seriously, making sure that the younger boy was making eye contact before continuing, "I promise you that I'm the person to go for help. It won't go any farther, I swear."

Cassidy deflated and Veronica knew that she'd somehow managed to get through to him and she quickly steered him inside to the girl's bathroom where she hung her 'out of order' sign and proceeded to listen to the now distraught kid.

Fifteen minutes later, Veronica exited the bathroom with a look of determined steel in her eyes. Cassidy followed her out a few moments after, looking almost relieved as he went to his first class of the day.

Veronica waited until the bell had rung for class and made her way to the, thankfully, empty newspaper room, where there were a lot of computers that she could use. She sat down and began her research, using every bit of her hacker training to get some more information on Woody Goodman. In the back of her mind, Veronica was calmly debating if she should kill the child abuser in his sleep or get so much dirt on him that he'd never get out of prison again.

It'd be poetic justice at least, she reasoned darkly, the man raping kids would undoubtedly discover that karma was a bitch when he became the one to be raped instead. If nothing else, there was something immensely satisfying about prison justice.

After some intense computer work and a phone call to David, her uncle's handler, Veronica slipped out of the school and made her way to her apartment to wait for the man. All the while feeling extremely relieved that she hadn't run in to Logan and his confused and almost sad puppy dog eyes for once. She forced the thought of her nonexistent love life out of her mind and started cleaning some of her gun's to occupy her while she waited..

The agent showed up an hour later with an almost gently smile gracing his features. "You just can't keep from finding the perverts in this town, can you?"

Veronica smirked and invited him to sit and they quickly outlined a plan. An hour later, Woody's office and private home was overrun with police officers, whereas David, in uniform, proceeded to open his computers and find a couple of huge files of child pornography that had mysteriously found its way into Woody's harddrive.

Veronica strolled into the high school barely an hour after that and since the whole ordeal had barely taken her four hours, she was just in time for lunch and she went searching for Cassidy.

Veronica's satisfied mood did dim a little when she realized that her target was sitting by Logan's usual table, next to the boy himself. Forcing out the stray thoughts about how good the Echolls' heir looked, Veronica quickly walked over and leaned down to Cassidy's ear and whispered, "Mission accomplished, be sure to buy the newspaper tomorrow, okay?"

She straightened up, relishing a bit in the, for once, honestly happy smile that Cassidy sent her way and started making her way to the cafeteria for some food. Behind her, she heard Dick ask, "Beaver, what the hell? Dating older women? I didn't know you had it in ya?"

Rolling her eyes, Veronica focused on satisfying her growling belly, feeling pretty good with her day's work.

**0o0o0**

Of course that mood didn't last more than a minute after she got home from school. She walked inside, greeted her dog as per usual and walked into the kitchen to grab something to drink.

The sight that greeted her, made Veronica gasp in shock. In front of her were Lianne and Keith locked together in a passionate kiss that seemed to have been going on for a while.

Anger surged through Veronica's veins and she cleared her throat loudly, making her parents jump away from each other like they'd been burned. For one second, Veronica thought she saw something like regret flashing in Keith's eyes, but she blinked and it was gone and she told herself it'd probably been a trick of the light anyway.

"What the _hell_ are you two doing?" Veronica couldn't keep her voice from rising. Behind her, she heard the front door open as Nicole returned home from school as well. "This is not right; Keith, you have to see that this isn't right! You're too _smart_ to fall for this crap, she probably only wants something from you!"

"Veronica," Lianne sounded breathless, but surprisingly sincere when she objected, "I know it's hard to believe, given everything, but I'm truly fond of your father and-"

"No one asked you to speak." Veronica's voice was deadly and Lianne took a step back, obviously confused about the danger suddenly flowing off her child.

"What' going on?" Nicole's voice interrupted the tense moment and Veronica spun around.

"I caught them going at it like teenagers; it was disgusting."

Nicole's face lit up and Veronica knew she wasn't feeling the same disgust that was running through her. "Oh my word, that's so great. Now you can get together again and we'll all be a big happy family again!"

"You're delusional!" Veronica sneered and started making her way out of the kitchen, Keith planted a hand on her shoulder and Veronica was really tempted to just twist his hand and throw him into the wall, but she repressed it.

"I understand you're upset, Veronica, but I will not have you speak to either your mother or sister that way." He stated firmly and Veronica sneered soundlessly.

"We're a family," Keith continued and Veronica ripped herself out of his grip and cut him with her gaze.

"No, we're not family. We'll never be family as long as you're keeping that female this close to me. Tell her to leave or I will."

Keith paled, and behind him, Veronica saw Nicole's eyes turn to ice at the threat. It took a few seconds before Keith spoke, but when he did, his voice was a cold as Veronica's. "I don't appreciate idle threats just because you're throwing a temper tantrum, Veronica. Go to your room and we'll call you when it's time for dinner."

Veronica didn't reply, she simply whistled for Back-up and all but ran to her room, feeling for the first time like an actual moody teenager. She didn't like the sensation of hurt flowing through every fiber of her being and she jumped into her bed and screamed her rage out into a pillow.

It didn't take long before her sister's steps revealed her impending arrival and Veronica lifted her head from the pillow, panting a bit after her admittedly childish behavior.

Nicole looked extremely angry. In fact, Veronica couldn't recall a time where her twin had looked at her with so much negative emotion on her face. Not even during the time where she hated her on principle because of her run-ins with Lilly.

" _What_?" Veronica snapped, "I'm not in the mood for any of your lectures right now, Nikki. Go away."

"You are so selfish!" Nicole yelled, actually stomping her foot like an angry toddler. "Mom is back; don't you get it? She's willing to be with us! Daddy sees that, why can't you?"

"Because I don't _trust_ her!" Veronica jumped to her feet so fast that Back-up tumbled off the bed with a startled yelp. "And I don't get why you, a person that's not even remotely stupid on a normal day, can't see that she's obviously hiding something! We're talking about a woman that left me with a man that told me how she was, no half truths or anything. Did you know that she dropped my off at their doorstep, threw me in my uncle's arms and left me without any word to my new guardians. I've been told that I was so skinny and underfed that I was more dead than alive; I had bruises on my skin that clearly showed that she's abusive so I'm finding it a little hard to forgive and forget, okay? You've only lived in this gilded palace, Nicole, you're _naïve_! Ever wondered why she never said anything about that during all her perfectly orchestrated tales?"

"I hate you, Veronica!" Nicole roared, stepping right into Veronica's face, completely ignoring the now growling pit bull next to Veronica. "You act so high and mighty that I just want to slap you!"

"Do it!" Veronica screamed right back, "I'm gonna slap you right back and maybe I can beat some sense into you!"

"I wish you'd never come here! All you do is go around and be such a big pain in everyone's ass. You've ruined _everything_! Lilly isn't my friend anymore; Logan's pining for you for some God forsaken reason and I'm the _only_ 09'er that's not popular! Why did you have to come here if things are so horrible for you? Just _leave_!" Nicole hissed and pushed Veronica hard in the shoulder.

Veronica, who was feeling dizzy and wounded from Nicole's verbal assault, couldn't quite repress her training when she was touched so negatively. She immediately reached out and grabbed Nicole's hand and twisted it hard in retribution.

Nicole whimpered in pain and went down to her knees, "Don't start something you have _no_ chance of finishing," Veronica whispered with a deadly edge in her tone.

In the next moment, the door was opened and Keith stormed in, evidently their screaming match had caught his attention. His eyes took everything in one glance and he barked for Veronica to let go of Nicole.

Veronica's senses returned to her and she blinked out of that dark place that her mind had found and gasped in shock. Nicole was looking at her with genuine fear and there was a cloud of disappointment over Keith that hurt Veronica more than she even thought possible.

Stepping back, Veronica watched silently as Keith tended to the now crying Nicole. Keith placed a gentle kiss on Nicole's forehead and told the also watching Lianne to take her to her room to try and calm her while he talked to Veronica.

Lianne placed her arm over Nicole's shoulders and lead her out of Veronica's room with no regard for her other daughter whatsoever.

Keith waited until they heard the quiet snap of the door closing, before he turned back to Veronica with fury flowing from his eyes. Veronica swallowed a lump of something and she had to force herself to remain standing in the same spot next to her dog.

Back-up growled at the perceived threat to his mistress, but one scorching look from Keith made him step back and he whimpered regretfully and jumped into his basket in the corner, leaving Veronica to her fate so to speak.

Veronica tapped into some of her training, borrowing the mindset that was similar to that she went through the one and (thankfully) only time she'd been captured on a mission and tortured.

"I can't begin to explain to you how disappointed I am in you," Keith finally started speaking in a soft monotone that frankly made the hairs on Veronica's arms stand on end. "I've taken you into my home. I've loved you, respected your individuality and fully understood why you can't call me 'Dad' yet. I've put up with a lot, Veronica, but you overstepped a line tonight by touching your sister. I will not tolerate that kind of behavior and quite honestly, I thought that you, with your _abilities_ , knew how to be responsible."

 _Oh my God,_ Veronica took a deep breath, _he knows! How does he know? What does he know?_

"Don't look at me like that, Veronica," Keith continued when Veronica couldn't quite manage to form audible words yet, "Like I said, I've respected your need for secrecy; waited for you to come to me, but I can't understand why you'd even think it'd be remotely okay for you to sprain Nikki's wrist? Why you've deemed it necessary to humiliate Lianne's attempt at reconciliation at every turn while Nikki at least has been grown up enough to try and build some bridges"

"I-I." Veronica started hesitantly, wanting to point out all the holes in Lianne's stories, but then she stopped abruptly when Keith continued mercilessly.

"I love you, and I always will, but after tonight, it's become quite clear to me that I don't know you and right now; I don't have the energy in me to care. Stay here and we'll see if we can have an adult conversation tomorrow, Veronica. Don't sneak out to that apartment tonight, do you understand?"

Mutely and completely floored, Veronica nodded and stood immobile as Keith closed the door behind him and made his way to Nikki's room. _I thought I was so good at my job,_ Veronica blinked slowly, _I've felt so superior and now I learn that he's figured everything out; the second apartment and everything. I don't think Uncle Jay had any idea just how smart my father really is or else he'd probably tried to recruit Nicole too…_

The thought of Nicole, her insults, and above all the fearful look in her eyes, burned through Veronica like lava and she gasped out an uncharacteristic sob and bent over, trying to breathe normally.

How long Veronica stood there, panting for air that didn't seem to want to come, she didn't know, but she was brought out of her misery for a bit when she heard the characteristic ping from her laptop that signaled the arrival of a new email.

Veronica straightened up and walked over to her desk with a heavy heart to read it. Five minutes later, her mind had finally absorbed the message and she leaned back in her chair with a frown marring her features.

It was a message from David, telling her in code that Michael Vaughn had requested her for an undercover mission that might interfere with her daily life as it was a long term mission abroad. He urged her to consider all her options. It would be a big deal to succeed with this assignment, proving to the higher ups in the Agency that the unconventional child operative was still a positive asset after her uncle's passing. But, as David also stated, it would without a doubt cause issues in her new life. There was no way to make up a believable cover story with such short notice. Should she agree to the job, she'd need to leave her new family come nightfall and she'd be picked up on the outskirts of town by one of Vaughn's operatives.

Veronica bit her lip and glanced down at Back-up. The dog seemed to know that she was troubled because he was looking at her with such a serious expression in his dark eyes, as though telling her that he'd support whatever she decided to do.

 _I'm only causing tension by staying here;_ Veronica unconsciously had already begun her habit of listing the pros and con's. _If I'm not here, Keith and Nicole will have a much easier relationship with Lianne. But if I leave; I'll never really know if she's here for her own reasons and not to start over…_

Veronica let herself fall to the floor and started doing some pushups to relieve stress as she went through every option in her head. _If I leave, I won't have to feel so guilty around Logan anymore, I won't have to work so hard to stop forming attachments anymore. He'll probably be a lot happier without me around to cause problems like Nicole said. And Keith_ …Veronica groaned and stopped her exercising. _He said it himself; he's not nearly as attached to me as he is to Nicole and I'm this big unapproachable person that's just causing a lot of shit to happen. It'll be better for them all if I just went away…_

"Huh," Veronica smiled sadly and walked over to rub Back-up's ears, "I guess I've made up my mind."

**0o0o0**

The moon was up and the stars sparkled down on Veronica when she snuck out of her window in the dead of night. She'd left a note apologizing to Nicole and Keith, begging them to take care of her dog until she came for him at a later date. Veronica had had to drug her dog so he didn't try to follow her and barking when he realized that it wasn't possible. She hadn't left any note for her birth mother.

Veronica reached her check point and didn't have to wait long before a non descript car pulled up next to her. The window rolled down and Veronica recognized the agent as Sydney Bristow. They'd met each other briefly during Veronica's last mission with Vaughn, so Veronica knew that this was going to be a difficult task, because the older agent only ever worked the challenging assignments.

A few minutes later, Veronica sat silently next to the older woman and stared blindly out the darkened windows of the car. To her surprise, Veronica had to wipe tears out of her eyes a couple of times and she berated herself for it. _This is better for me than staying in this stupid town. I can utilize my skills and feel more like myself again without hiding. It'll be better soon_ …

The tiny spark of doubt that still resided inside Veronica's chest was ignored fervently and before long, Veronica had left Neptune just as quickly as she'd arrived.

**0o0o0**

What Veronica didn't know, was that she wasn't the only one in Neptune that was up and about.

Barely an hour after the youngest twin had snuck out of town, someone else entered unnoticed into the Mars' house. He was clad in dark colors and his eyes portrayed an almost insane joy as he soundlessly made his way upstairs.

He looked into the room that had belonged to Veronica and growled without sound when he realized that she wasn't there. The dog that he'd heard about was sleeping soundly in the middle of the floor and he closed the door again, a bit relieved that he didn't have to get too close to subdue the animal.

Looking around, he quickly thought up another plan. If he couldn't get his revenge directly on that stupid blonde bitch, he could give her some heartache by targeting the other girl in the house.

It didn't take him long to locate Nicole Mars' room and he slowly opened the door and crept inside stealthily. She was sleeping, and it was obvious that she'd went to bed in some kind of emotional state of mind, judging from the dried tearstains on her cheeks. He smirked evilly and took out the needed objects from the bag he'd taken with him and placed them over Nicole's mouth.

He waited a bit, and then pinched her on her arm to make sure that the drug had worked. When she didn't stir, he grinned to himself and slung her light frame over his shoulder and exited the Mars' house just as silently as he'd arrived.

 _This'll teach that stupid bitch to interfere with me,_ Aaron Echolls thought, for once completely happy about all the boot camps his acting career had sent him through over the years. After all, how else would he have known to kidnap someone with so much expertise?

He wasn't even angry about having missed his original target anymore; taking it out on Nicole, a perfect innocent was just splendid. She was the sister of the bitch that had ruined him and the best friend of the skank that had betrayed him.

Of course, Aaron was not a complete idiot. He knew that he now had two _extremely_ dangerous people after him. Keith and Veronica Mars were both capable of dealing out a lot of pain, of that he had no doubt, which was why he left Neptune in the dead of night, just as undiscovered and covert as Veronica Mars had done.

And back at the Mars' house, Keith Mars was sleeping fitfully, as though he already knew that both of his beloved children were about to enter a phase of their lives that were much more deadly than he could even imagine.

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is by now pretty obviously a mild crossover with Alias, another brilliant show :D 
> 
> Hope you're enjoying the build up to the end here, 'cause once again , it's about to get pretty over the top...


	14. An Underestimated Return, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lack of replies to your awesome comments but just had time to post today and not much else - I hope you enjoy this new chappie as well despite the drama :D

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN: An Underestimated Return, Part 1**

"Mr. Mars, you need to sleep," Lilly Kane's tone was edged with the authority that many years as the ruler of her school had gifted her with, "so do you, Logan. Don't make me say it again."

Keith and Logan glanced at each other and sighed in tandem. There was no denying that they were a pathetic sight. Both of them hadn't slept decently ever since the two Mars girls had disappeared, their smell indicated poor interest in their hygiene. Showering just didn't seem as important as trying to find Nicole and Veronica.

Keith eyed the young man next to him a bit closer. Logan was carrying an extreme amount of guilt on his young shoulders, guilt that he didn't deserve to carry. During the time that Veronica and Nicole had been gone, it had quickly become clear to the Mars patriarch that Logan harbored some feelings for Veronica that rivaled those that he himself had thought he'd carried for Lianne once upon a time.

 _And_ , Keith sighed again, putting down the notes that some of his detectives had gathered, _put the fact that his dad kidnapped my other daughter into the mix and it's just confusing as hell_.

"You're right, Lilly," Keith finally replied to the girl sitting in the sofa in his office with a likewise weary expression on her face, "We need to sleep. We'll head out now; just call us if there's any news, okay?"

"I'm not leaving Keith," Logan objected, looking harassed as he sorted through yet another useless pile of information that was either not important or outdated, "go sleep if you want, I'm _not_ going anywhere. I can't afford to take naps all the time, I care too much."

Lilly jumped up from her seat and moved so fast that it should have been impossible, and in the next second her hand had connected with Logan's cheek. "Don't even go there Logan! You're not the only one hurting here and we've been looking, by Gods we've been looking, but we can't keep functioning on nothing but willpower."

"Lilly, calm down," Keith's voice was weary, but the pitying look in his eyes told them all that he sympathized with the Kane heiress. "Go and get some sleep as well, you're as spent as the rest of us. Eli," Keith's gaze travelled to the silent form over by the windows, "call us if anything happens, okay?"

The biker nodded solemnly and went back to silently stare out the window. It had been a lot subtler than Logan's frantic desperation, but it was becoming clear that he too felt a lot more than casual friendship for the two missing girls, the brunette especially.

Keith sighed and ran a hand over his face, swallowing an exhausted yawn. The only reason that he wasn't putting up more of a fight to stay, like Logan, was that he had something to finish. Something that he'd been planning for quite some time and if he went home now, a lot sooner than expected than perhaps his plan could finally come to an end and he could focus all of his strength and energy on locating his children.

Fifteen minutes later, Keith entered his house quietly, knowing that his unannounced arrival would finally allow him to catch Lianne unawares if all went well. And judging from the giggling that he could hear from his open office door, Keith had no doubt that he would get to finish his agenda.

As he soundlessly drew closer to the half opened door, Keith heard Lianne's voice. "…soon. I've been consoling him the few times he's home and it probably won't take many attempts before he gives me some of his codes so I can get access to his bank accounts, Baby."

 _Bingo_ , Keith smirked bitterly to himself and opened the door in front of him completely to see Lianne sitting with her back to him, talking into the phone, looking anything but the distraught mother he'd left just that morning. _I guess_ _Veronica was right after all…_

"If you wanted my money," Keith drawled, enjoying the rapid paling of Lianne's sunbathed skin as she spun around inelegantly to look at him with wide eyes, "all you had to do was ask, Sweetie. After all, we're still married so you are entitled to some of my assets."

"K-Keith," Lianne stuttered and the phone in her hand slipped down to the floor in her shocked state.

"Yes?" The hint of ice in Keith's voice warned Lianne to tread very carefully and she swallowed down a lump of growing fear.

She eyed him for a long moment and neither of them moved. Finally, she bent down and took the phone from the floor and hung up. Only then did she turn and look him completely in the eye. She shrugged in a defeated manner, "I don't know what to say, Keith."

"I do," Keith responded, leaning casually against the open doorway, "I had a feeling from the beginning that you were up to something. Let's face it; you've never really hid anything quite as well as you think you did. Let's take Jake for example."

Lianne gulped. "How did you...?"

"Like I said," Keith didn't move as he replied quietly, "you're not really as clever as you think you are. I've been keeping track of you for a few years now. When I finally found you and discovered that you didn't have Veronica with you, you took a backseat in my plans to be honest. But I always intended to find you and make you _pay_."

The pale woman in front of him was suddenly a mere shadow of the woman she'd been just that morning and to be honest, Keith's vindictive side cherished the sight more than he'd ever expected.

"Since you don't seem to have anything productive to say, I'll add something. I was humiliated for years after you took off; no one believed that I'd actually fathered twins, except for the medical personal and all. I've only had a few months with Veronica and then you show up, forcing me to try and figure out what you wanted, because unlike Nikki, I knew from the start that you wanted something."

Keith's voice hitched a bit when he spoke Nicole's name, but he soldiered on and it was soon forgotten when he continued, "It took me a while to get the proof I needed. In the meantime, I had to act like a lovesick fool that welcomed you back with open arms. Didn't you ever wonder why I didn't want to sleep with you? Touching you makes me sick; I had to use every ounce of strength inside of me to just kiss you in a believable manner."

Keith sighed and ignored Lianne's small whimper of disbelief, "Like I said; I needed the proof so I could send you on your way as soon as possible. But," Keith's voice turned deadly, "all that no longer matters because your presence made Veronica think I didn't love her just as much as I love the daughter I had the fortune to actually raise. That is the one thing that I will never forgive. Because of you, I didn't know my child and the last time I saw her, she looked so betrayed."

"Keith, I'm just," Lianne finally managed to get her mouth to cooperate, "I'm just in a lot of trouble. When I took Veronica, I honestly thought I could do it. I tried, but then it just got easier to live through the day with a glass of vine and that turned into a bottle and soon, I spent too much money on my habits and not enough on her needs. I slept with a lot of men and I guess I trusted them too much because one day I came back to find Veronica bleeding and full of bruises. I couldn't give her back to you obviously, so I left her with James. After that I just stopped trying to be good and long story short I got into some drug issues that put me in a lot of debt. I was saved by someone that I'm now married to and I'm clean because of him. The thing is though, " here Lianne sighed and ran a hand through her locks, "both of us are in a lot of debt and we needed cash. You were the only one I thought could help."

"Why not Jake? After all you could probably con his wife into believing the twins were his, right?"

Lianne's eyes darkened guiltily and Keith couldn't stop chuckling. "Oh, I get it. You already tried that and let me guess, Celeste didn't quite act as calmly as you'd hoped?"

"Yeah." Lianne blinked away the tears in her eyes and after a brief pause, she looked up again and added with an unusual amount of sincerity in her voice, "but you have to believe me. I never wanted the girls' to be hurt, I never in a million years thought this would've happened to them. I'm sorry for that, I truly am, but…I guess the whole thing was just a perfect way for me to succeed with my plan and then quietly disappear without anyone knowing the truth."

"Lianne," Keith walked over to the desk and took out his checkbook, "if you'd been honest from the start you wouldn't have had to put stars into Nikki's eyes. And please stop acting like you give a damn about _my_ children. Here's a check and if you need more don't bother coming to me. Get out of my sight."

Lianne's blue eyes widened at the amount of money that the man, who had a legitimate reason for hating her, had just given her. "I'm sorry for everything," she mumbled and ran upstairs to pack her meager belongings.

Ten minutes later, Lianne walked out of the door. Just as Keith was about to close it behind her, Lianne turned halfway around and spoke, "This might not be a lead, but I was meeting Jimmy, my husband," she quickly explained, "at a bar yesterday to go over our plans when I spotted that detective of yours sitting looking extremely gloomy over in the corner. Take it from someone who's full of deceit Keith, but I'm almost positive that Vinnie Van Lowe has got something to do with Nikki's disappearance. Goodbye."

The door closed quietly behind the small blonde, who wouldn't return to Neptune ever again.

**0o0o0**

It was dark and cold, and Nicole, who used to hate the dark more than anything, let out a sigh of relief. The dark meant that Aaron practically never showed up. He left her alone in that room she'd spent however long in, she could watch some TV and relax as much as was possible in her situation.

Why she was even still alive was the biggest mystery in Nicole's thoughts. She still remembered waking up in the back of a car, tied up without any wriggle room what so ever. Aaron's admittedly handsome face had looked coldly into hers and he'd promised not to hurt her, _if_ she behaved.

So, like any girl scared out of her mind, Nicole behaved. She'd only once tried to escape and it had left her extremely bruised and sore, so she now spent her days in solitude, sometimes forced to spend time with the insane actor, who'd go off on a tangent and tell her all about stuff that her formerly so innocent ears really didn't enjoy listening to.

She'd lost count of the days, only living to see the spots on the TV where her father and to her surprise Lilly and her friends begged for her release. The fact that none of the clips on the TV showed a concerned Veronica told Nicole all she needed to know.

Veronica truly didn't care about her and was busy living her life without her sister. The look that Veronica had given her on the night of her abduction still resonated inside of Nicole whenever she thought of it. She'd had enough time to think about that night in all details and she understood now that her behavior towards Veronica hadn't exactly been the best; especially considering the fact that Lianne hadn't begged in public either.

 _Maybe I really managed to make Veronica hate me?_ Nicole thought sadly, not for the first time. _Other than a few times, I've never been particularly gracious in my friendship with her. And then there's Lilly_ …

The thought of her oldest friend made Nicole's eyes burn. She no longer cried, having quickly learned that tears wouldn't bring salvation and would only dehydrate her faster. She only got one bottle of water and one meal a day, so she had become practical.

The way Lilly had looked the times that Nicole had managed to catch the moment on TV, told the abducted girl that her friendship with Lilly wasn't as over as she'd originally thought. The fact that the Kane heiress hadn't worn any flashy makeup for the cameras was a good indication of her level of seriousness after all.

Nicole smiled inwardly at the memory of the last time she'd managed to steal a glimpse of the news. Just behind her dad, she'd spotted none other than Weevil. He'd stared mutely into the camera with an intense look in his eyes. For some reason, Nicole hadn't been able to look away from them until the screen turned back to the newscaster in the studio.

Though she'd admittedly been a bit nervous when Veronica had sort of forced her to hang out with Weevil, if she wanted to spend time with her sister, Nicole couldn't deny that some things had changed. And now she more often than not dreamt about his confident smirk and beautiful dark eyes (that did things to her that Duncan's open and friendly ones never managed to do), to keep the harsh reality at bay.

 _At least I can dream myself out of this stupid place every once in a while_ , Nicole thought, her mood souring again when reality threatened to come back to her; _but it's very unlikely he ever thought about me the same way I'm thinking about him now…_

Suddenly Nicole heard a sound and she tensed, not attempting to hide because, frankly only two people ever came to see her.

Aaron and Vinnie Van Lowe.

There was a rustling sound and then a squeaking when the door was unlocked and Vinnie poked his head inside her room. He smiled a little smile at her and Nicole rolled her eyes and focused on the screen where commercials were being shown. If she'd disliked Vinnie before her ordeal, she violently hated him now.

The first time she'd seen him with Aaron was a few days after the kidnapping and the guilty look he sent her when Aaron was too busy going off on one of his egotistical lectures, had told Nicole a lot. Like the fact that he was partnered up with Aaron and had probably helped the lunatic take her away from her home.

She'd wheedled enough information out of the actor to know that Vinnie was doing it for the most despicable reason of them all; he was doing it for petty cash. Apparently, the detective had gotten himself mixed up with the shadier part of town and was in desperate need of some funding.

That didn't mean she had to tolerate him more than was strictly necessary, so she kept ignoring him as he placed her meal of the day on the wobbly table in the middle of the room.

Her stomach growled when the enticing smell of the food reached her nostrils. _At least he always brings me food that tastes_ _really good_ , Nicole thought, inwardly scolding herself for her show of weakness, _and unlike Aaron, he always brings a lot of food, so I won't go to bed hungry. I guess that's the guilt making its appearance, but I can't be bought. No Stockholm Syndrome for me thanks._

"Hey Nikki," Vinnie finally spoke quietly, completely unlike his usual cocky manner.

Nicole simply ignored him, not willing to ease his guilt one iota and made her way over to the table and began to eat as dignified as her hunger would allow her to.

The minutes passed by and the silence was finally broken by Vinnie, who started talking amiably, just to fill the silence. He talked about normal things, steering clear of her father's name to keep from upsetting her. Nicole pretended he wasn't speaking, until he said something that made her pay attention, "So I've heard it through the grapevine that Aaron might consider an alternative to your situation soon. I mean, it's not like he has to worry about Veronica's presence in town anymore, and he thinks he can handle Keith since he's down two kids and emotionally unstable and-"

"What do you mean, "worry about Veronica's presence?"" Nicole interrupted, taking a sip from her bottled water. "What's wrong with Veronica?"

Vinnie frowned, "You mean, Aaron hasn't bragged about that?"

"About what?" Nicole's heart started thumping with nerves, she just _knew_ she wasn't going to like whatever it was that Vinnie would say next.

"Veronica has disappeared; she left the night you were taken." Vinnie explained, his eagerness over not being ignored anymore was practically glowing from his pores, "Aaron told me that when he came for her that night, she'd already vanished. That's why he took you instead. And now, no one can find her. It turns out, from what I've manage to find out, that Veronica has a pretty interesting past and my guess is that she'd gone back to it. I'm telling you, she won't be found if she doesn't want to. That chick struck me as a clever one the times I met her."

The sound of Vinnie's cell phone ringing brought an end to the conversation and he answered it quickly. A second later, he mouthed Aaron's name with an apologetic look in his eyes and walked out the room, efficiently locking the door behind him. He didn't seem to notice that Nicole had paled after his revelations, or that she sat frozen with her delicious meal cooling in front of her.

 _She's gone? Did I drive her away_? Cringing, Nicole recalled all the hateful things she'd yelled at Veronica during all their fights, how the flash of hurt would show for a brief moment in Veronica's blue eyes before her face would harden back into her usual composed mask.

A lone tear trailed down Nicole's cheek, as she slowly began to realize that Veronica wasn't coming for her. Somehow she'd unknowingly held out some weird hope that the capable blonde would be the one to come trampling in to save her, like she'd saved so many others in their brief acquaintance.

"Veronica, I'm sorry," Nicole whispered brokenly. Her thoughts went to her father; he'd always been extremely protective of Nicole due to Veronica's disappearance as an infant and now he was suffering through two children's disappearance.

"I have to get out," Nicole muttered and stood up, the feelings overtaking her for the first time since her one and only escape attempt, "I want to get out. I want _out_! Get me out of here! Vinnie, take me home, please! _Please_ , help me! She banged frantically on the door, hoping against hope that the sleazy detective would actually listen to her desperate pleas.

She slid down the door a few minutes later, exhausted from sobbing and screaming. _I want to go home_ , she thought sadly, _I want my daddy and I want my sister…Please be okay, Veronica…Please find me! I'm sorry for everything._

**0o0o0**

** Somewhere in an undisclosed location **

Veronica's eyes snapped open and she gasped out her twin's name, her heart pounding as the eerie sound inside of her faded away. Veronica could have sworn it was Nicole's voice, begging her for help.

"Shh, Agent Saunders," an unfamiliar voice suddenly rang out in the darkened room and Veronica's eyes immediately zeroed in on the person. It was a male dressed in a telling white doctor's coat and she relaxed a bit. He acted as though her defensive study didn't bother him and quickly started talking again, "You need to lie back down and relax, Agent Saunders. Your team was ambushed and only you and Agent Bristow came out of it alive."

"Did we achieve the mission's objective despite this happening?" Veronica slipped into the role of the agent she'd been full time ever since leaving Neptune and all its inhabitants. "If not, I'll need an estimated time for when I can debrief and find out another way to make the mission a success."

"Don't worry, Veronica," Sydney Bristow's warm voice answered her instead of the doctor, "We pulled through despite losing our teammates. I'm just glad to see you didn't let a gunshot wound and the beating you got stop you from surviving."

Veronica's eyes slid over the other agent, who had sat up in her own bed next to Veronica's. Her face was swollen and badly bruised, making it clear that Veronica wasn't the only one to have suffered.

Veronica allowed herself a brief sigh of relief; she'd gotten to know the older operative and considered her a friend, so she was happy that she'd made it out alive. Then the echo of Nicole's voice in her head, and the odd pang in her chest, forced Veronica back to the present and she looked into the doctor's eyes with a determined glint in hers.

"When can I get out of here? I have somewhere else that I need to be as soon as possible."

The doctor shared a small grin with Sydney before looking back at a frowning Veronica, "I apologize for that, it's just; Agent Bristow warned me that you'd probably say something along those lines, Agent Saunders. And to answer your question; I'm afraid you do have some recovery ahead of you. Your injuries need time to heal properly and as a doctor, I can't in good conscience let you leave too soon."

"I don't care," Veronica said, sitting up a bit, trying to ignore the burning in her stomach region that told Veronica just where she'd been shot, "I need to go home, I know it sounds ridiculous but I have a feeling that I'm needed there."

"Agent Saunders," the doctor began, only to be interrupted by an irate Veronica.

"My name is Mars, Saunders-Mars; please get your facts straight. Also, trust me when I say that I'll be leaving sooner than you think, no matter _what_ you believe."

The doctor sighed and silently worked on the fuming blonde before leaving for another patient. Sydney waited for Veronica to look at her before saying, "You won't get out of here for another two weeks minimum, at least, not without a little help."

"Then I'll find some help," Veronica was relentless, the inexplicable urge to go home growing stronger by the second, "I don't care what it takes."

"You really mean it, don't you?" Sydney said quietly and Veronica nodded. Shaking her head and muttering something about Vaughn and how he was going to kill her, Sydney slowly reached over to the small table next to the bed. She grimaced a bit at the pain it caused her, but stubbornly opened a drawer and withdrew a gun, which she threw expertly so it landed on Veronica's lap. "Here's some help. But for my peace of mind, please wait another day."

Veronica nodded, gratitude swelling up inside of her. "I promise. At least that'll give me time to contact some people and ask for a little assistance so I can skip public transportation. Thank you Syd, and thanks for getting me out alive."

Sydney smiled, a bit uncomfortable with the praise apparently, "Yeah, well. You saved me more than once during the mission; I figured it'd be best if I returned the favor during the escape. Get some sleep Veronica, you have a busy couple of days ahead of you, I can just tell."

Veronica smiled a small smile and closed her eyes as ordered. Images of Nicole and Keith flashed through her mind, until one image of a smiling Logan from the day she'd reset his nose after a beating from his father, floated in and calmed her down.

 _He really is handsome when he smiles_ , she thought as she drifted into sleep, fully aware that when she woke, she'd probably ruin all her chances of ever working with CIA ever again.

**0o0o0**

**TBC…**

 

* * *


	15. An Underestimated Return, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're finally about to finish this and I hope you're all enjoying it despite it very over the top drama :D   
> Again, all the grammar errors are mine since no beta has been found to help me out. I hope you'll manage anyhow :D   
> Thanks for the continued support, it means so much to me, you don't even know.

**CHAPTER FOURTEEN: An Underestimated Return Part 2**

It was one of the more unlikely groups of people that were standing huddled together, hidden out of sight from the bar, River Styx, one dark night.

"Okay, so are you're ready to do this?" Logan's voice was serious, but then again, everything about him was grave these days.

Lilly rolled her eyes and double-checked that her breasts were showing just the right amount of cleavage, before looking up at her ex-boyfriend. "More than ready."

"Okay, let's run over the plan one last time." Weevil demanded with his head turned away from the group, fulfilling his job as a lookout.

Cassidy nodded and started to speak confidently, pretending he didn't see his older brother's surprise over his take charge attitude. "Mac's already put the mike on Lilly and will be hiding in Logan's car, listening in on the conversation, taping it for evidence. Lilly will go inside and try to seduce Van Lowe to get some information. Weevil, Dick and Logan will be ready to barge in and help Lilly out if something should go wrong." Here Lilly snorted, because everyone knew that she pretty much _never_ failed at seduction. Cassidy smiled a little at her and she did something uncharacteristic in return; she blushed.

"And then?" Logan pressed on, annoyed with all the hang ups, he was itching to get the plan started; to figure out if Vinnie Van Lowe had any ideas about Nikki's disappearance, like Lilly had overheard Lianne Mars say before she fled town earlier.

Cassidy nodded, falling back into his normal persona. "Well, Lilly will take Lowe back to her car and just as they're going at it and she feels he's truly preoccupied, she's gonna call for me and I'll get inside the car, locking the doors and Weevil, Logan and Dick will stand outside. Try to look as deadly as possible guys; we need him to be scared. And from what I've gathered, he's used to some pretty scary guys."

Everyone nodded seriously and after a few more minutes of preening, Lilly sauntered into the bar, looking nothing like that desperate to find Nicole and Veronica girl she'd been for the last long while. Now, Lilly Kane, the slut and self-centered bitch was ready to be used again; this time for a good cause.

"Okay, here we go." Cassidy muttered, his eyes lingering a bit on Lilly's curves when he thought no one was looking.

A half an hour later, Lilly was deeply committed to making Vinnie Van Lowe forget the time and place as she sucked on his neck with one of the patented Lilly moves that was guaranteed to make every male succumb to her. The corrupt detective moaned loudly, having the time of his life with Lilly's curvaceous backside that was firmly planted on his lap in the back of her car.

Suddenly, she leaned back and screamed, "Ready!" and all hell broke loose.

The door opened and Cassidy filed in, locking it behind him. Logan, Weevil and Dick placed themselves around the car, looking as ominous as possible. Lilly jumped over into the driver's seat, leaving the interrogation to Cassidy.

The younger boy unceremoniously punched the dazed detective in the face and acted like he didn't hear Dick's surprised, but approving yelp from the outside.

"You need to tell me where Nicole is." He stated coldly, allowing himself to fall into that dark place that he'd spent some time in before Veronica had come around and helped put an end to his nightmarish existence.

Lilly eyed the youngest Cassablancas son with interest. She'd spent more time with him lately as he'd been around the Mars' house to help out because he felt like he owed Veronica and that had made her see him in a new light. _And this dark side of his is incredibly sexy too_ , Lilly thought, feeling a little hot all of the sudden.

Vinnie's groan of pain forced her back into the present and she leaned back and let Cassidy run the show as planned.

"I'm not gonna ask again," Cassidy warned, and added coldly, "but I feel I must warn you that all of us here will do _anything_ to find Nicole. And we all think you've got something to do with her disappearance."

Vinnie's eyes traveled out the car windows and locked into first Logan's stony ones, and then onto Weevil's icy gaze and he gulped quite loudly. "Look Kids," he began with a would-be charming smile, "you seem to have a lot of misconceptions about me. Just let me go and I'll be a nice fella and not even report you guys."

"Aaron Echolls is your employer," Cassidy continued as though Vinnie hadn't said a word, "and despite our combined efforts we haven't managed to find out where he's keeping her. Tell us before I do stuff to you that an innocent teen such as myself shouldn't even know about."

 _Damn, he's kindda hot_ , Lilly thought briefly again before mimicking his expression to look as threatening as possible when Vinnie's blue eyes went to hers in search of some kind of help.

Twenty minutes later, Cassidy exited the car with a defeated sigh and Lilly waited for Logan to take his place. They'd been trying their best, but no matter what Cassidy did or said, the older man wouldn't budge and they'd finally surrendered to the fact that they wouldn't get anything out of the slimy detective and they would drive him home to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

Inside the car there was a cold silence. Neither of the teens acknowledged Vinnie's presence any longer, but that didn't really bother the man. No, what was bothering him more and more, was the icy stare that Logan kept on him the entire way. It reminded Vinnie a bit too much of the actor, whose madness had gotten him into trouble in the first place.

Finally, Lilly pulled up in front of the small not too well kept house that belonged to Vinnie and his mom and he quickly got out of the vehicle, only to flinch ever so slightly when he realized that Logan was following him to the door. Trying to be casual, Vinnie sent the younger man a smile, "you know, if you follow me inside I must warn you that I haven't exactly got the finances to retain the same kind of maidservice that you do. Also, I have a gun and I _know_ how to use it."

"Cut the act," Logan demanded quietly, suddenly looking eerily like his father in terms of oozing danger. "I know you know where Nikki is and understand that Aaron is not gonna be happy with your betrayal. You probably think you're doing the best you can for Nikki after the circumstances, but," and here Logan's voice turned into a whisper that made the hairs in Vinnie's neck stand up, "let me help you understand this about Aaron Echolls."

Logan suddenly started unbuttoning his shirt and without any modesty whatsoever, he turned around and showed his bare back to Vinnie's now widened eyes.

It wasn't a pretty sight; in fact it was downright nauseating. There were old scars that stood out with blaring detail and the multiple crisscross of rugged flesh that went all the way down into Logan's pants was a clear sign of long time abuse.

"This," Logan pointed calmly at a huge scar that went from his neck to his hip, "I got when he came home one day and saw that my room wasn't cleaned. He hadn't been home in months, been away to shoot a movie and I was looking forward to seeing him. He came in and heard my mother say in jest that I hadn't been as neat as I usually was and he went off on me. Took my arm and dragged me into his study. The next thing I know I'm in an ambulance with an open wound on my back that supposedly was from a nasty fall from a tree in our backyard, but in reality was from his letter opener. My mother interrupted us and probably saved my life. I was nine years old. So," Logan had delivered this horrifying in look to his personal life with an uncanny composure that freaked Vinnie out, "ask yourself if you think he's a man worth protecting. Tell me where Nikki is or I promise you that I'll make Aaron's abuse of me look like child's play compared to what _I'll_ do to _you."_

**0o0o0o0**

During the same time

Veronica coughed and swallowed a wince at the pain it sent through her still not healed body. She looked around the darkness and finished filling up the tank to the bike she'd stolen some cities back. With a grimace of pain, she swung her leg over the bike and restarted it and took off again.

She was almost at her destination. When Veronica passed the Welcome to Neptune sign, she smiled a bit behind her dark helmet and thought back to what she'd done to return and what it had cost her. There was still a part of her that couldn't quite believe that she'd thrown all her old dreams and wants away for the very people she'd been desperate to avoid even getting to know once upon a time.

After Sydney had helped arm her, Veronica had waited somewhat patiently for the time where she felt her wounds were sufficiently healed to travel. Then she'd waited for the opportune moment and pulled a gun on the doctor, who'd come to change her bandages and somehow managed to escape the medical facility without being shot in the back. Veronica had a strong feeling that Sydney had something to do with her miraculous escape.

Especially after she'd found a backpack just outside of the perimeter that had been placed next to a motorcycle without a license plate that she'd ditched early on, just in case it was traceable. The backpack had revealed an untraceable phone with Marshall's home number on speed dial, a credit card and bandages for the wound and painkillers, and a lot more weaponry than her one measly gun to top everything off.

Veronica had immediately called Marshall, and through some unmentioned means gotten him to tap into some of Neptune News' archive, finally getting to know what was going on and why she'd had this urge to go help her twin.

With his expert assistance and his admittedly frantic, but genius mind, Veronica had quickly discovered what her family and friends back in Neptune hadn't; Nicole's whereabouts.

 _And I'm almost there_ , Veronica thought grimly, ignoring that trained part of her that screamed that she should wait for some kind of back-up. She just couldn't afford to wait any longer. Veronica didn't know what would happen if she did, or even which state she'd find her sister in.

The closer Veronica got, the angrier she became. _I should have killed him when I had the chance_ ; Veronica fumed, simultaneously finalizing her plans for her sister's rescue. _I always knew he was wrong in the head on so many levels. And after I found out about Logan, I should've ignored everyone's opinion and just gone with my gut…I would've ruined my chances for my job regardless as it turned out_ …

Surprisingly, Veronica didn't feel all that broken-hearted over having ruined her chances in the Agency. She'd expected to feel a lot more than she did, considering she'd practically begged to remain on active status after her uncle's death. But now that she'd held a fellow operative at gunpoint and escaped without fully debriefing among other things, Veronica was only relieved. She now knew what was more important to her and she rested peacefully with that knowledge, no longer feeling torn.

 _And considering all the drama that goes on at school and in Neptune_ , Veronica thought with a wry smile, _I doubt I'll ever really lose my edge._

Hearing a telling beep from a device planted on the stolen motorcycle that had replaced the one that she'd gotten from Sydney, Veronica pulled into the side and turned off the rumbling engine. She took off her helmet and pulled her hair into a ponytail with a blank look on her face. Stepping off the bike, she grabbed her bag and quickly armed herself, finishing loading her new favorite toy, a standard issue Beretta. It was the one Sydney had snuck her that day in the hospital and she'd become a bit attached to it.

Veronica looked around and not seeing anything out of the ordinary she kicked the bike to the ground and covered it with branches from the ground; it never hurt to be too cautious after all. Then she took out her cell phone and did what she'd unconsciously wanted to do for hours; Veronica called Keith.

The phone barely rang twice before his characteristic voice filled her tired ears. "Keith Mars speaking."

Suddenly, it was like all of Veronica's vocal chords seized to function and she swallowed heavily.

"Look, whomever this is," Keith's voice sounded annoyed and weary at the same time, "I don't need some punk prank calling me all the time and if you don't stop, I _promise_ you, I'll find you and make sure that you'll never get to walk straight again."

"…Ke-Dad?" it was like the endearment escaped Veronica's lips without her conscious knowing and she held her breath, suddenly insecure. It was the first time she'd ever acknowledged in words what Keith really was to her.

"Ronnie?" Keith's voice had changed, now it was small and filled with so much desperate hope that it nearly made the usually so together Veronica want to weep. "Is that you?"

 _How can so few words show so much emotion_? Veronica wondered with burning eyes. She couldn't quite explain her reaction, because she barely knew the man, but yet there was this yearning to be near him that had exploded the second his voice had traveled over the phone. _Now's not the time_ , she scolded herself for her lack of professionalism, _I can act like a silly girl when I've gotten Nicole home._

"Yes," she finally answered out loud before Keith could start screaming for a reply, "As soon as I've hung up, I'll send you some coordinates and as quick as you can, I need you to come to these coordinates with as many people you have that aren't afraid of some blood and/or danger. And make sure there's an ambulance standing ready just in case. I…" _Just say it_ , Veronica thought angry at herself for her sudden cowardice, "I'll see you there."

Hanging up and ignoring Keith's plea not to, Veronica quickly sent her father the coordinates to Nicole's location and started making her way to it as stealthily as she could manage. And considering Veronica's training that was pretty good. She hated herself for not being able to tell her dad that she loved him, but her ability to compartmentalize helped her out and she remained focused on her goal.

Fifteen minutes later, Veronica arrived to a small house that looked like every cliché of a haunted house in the middle of nowhere. There was a creepy silence in the air, as though it was holding its breath to see what would happen next.

Veronica sighed and double checked that she had everything she needed and was just about to come out into the open to look inside the dusty windows, when suddenly a car came barreling up to house with screeching tires as it parked right in front of the door.

Veronica narrowed her eyes and dug out her gun, fully intending to kill Aaron Echolls if he was the one that got out of the car. To her shock it wasn't the famous actor turned public enemy number one in Neptune that got out of the car.

In fact it wasn't just _one_ person; it was five people. Veronica's eyes skipped over Cassidy and Dick Cassablancas, pausing briefly on Lilly Kane and Weevil Navarro, before settling with something akin to longing on Logan Echolls.

"What the hell," the curse escaped the hidden blonde; she was completely surprised. And she had a bad feeling about the teenagers' arrival, so she kept hidden just in case.

She saw Cassidy mutter something to the group and heard Dick's (as usual) loud reply, "There aren't any other cars, Beav'; I doubt the crazy ass even knows we were coming. No offence Logan."

Suddenly as though Dick's words had been the catalysts, a loud band rang out into the night and Dick's lanky form went down immediately.

Lilly screamed as blood splattered all over her black blouse and was quickly pushed behind the car by a quick thinking Weevil. Logan jumped over to the youngest Cassablancas boy and forcibly dragged him from Dick's unmoving body. "Keep your cool," he demanded harshly, sounding like the possible murder of his best friend didn't even affect him.

"You kids better leave now," a voice they all recognized as Aaron's called out from the depths of the house. "I don't want to hurt you; I don't like to hurt you kids, so leave now."

"You're full of shit," Logan yelled back, barely holding back his own anger and despair, "let Nikki go, you fucking lunatic!"

All that happened was Aaron shooting another round at the cowering teens.

 _Idiots_ , Veronica thought from her spot, _their lack of training really shows_. Although her heart went out to all of them, Veronica had already mentally placed herself behind those walls that kept her calm and unfazed no matter what, and she fully intended to fulfill her mission despite her friends' unexpected arrival.

So, instead of standing up and giving her friends some cover and a chance to escape, she snuck around back of the house, praying soundlessly that the shots that Aaron was now firing didn't hit anyone else.

Behind her, she heard Lilly hiss that Vinnie must have tipped Aaron off, giving him time to prepare for them. _Well_ , Veronica thought grimly, finally reaching a window that one quick look told her that led into an unoccupied room, _he might have prepared for their arrival, but he's not expecting_ me _!_

Without a sound, Veronica used one of her Marshall invented gizmos to break the glass and open the window. A few moments later, she was inside the house.

She opened the door to the hallway a bit and peeped outside and what she saw made her insides freeze. Aaron was _not_ alone. Standing with his back turned to her was a man that practically screamed hired killer and Veronica swallowed a sigh. She knew that she could easily kill the man from behind, but unfortunately there was one thing that she hadn't thought off until that very moment. A silencer for her gun and that meant that she could either shoot the man and the alert Aaron and whoever else to her presence or she could use some of her assassination techniques and drop the man silently.

On a normal day, Veronica knew that wouldn't have been an issue, but she wasn't at a hundred percent and thus the risk at taking on a clearly larger opponent was that much higher. _But I have to do it and hope for the best_ ; Veronica thought and took a deep preparing breath before sneaking up on the man from behind.

She ignored the flaring pain in her gunshot wound as she quickly jumped up the man's back and toppled him backwards, supporting all his impressive weight on her legs, so he couldn't stomp around and make noise. Then Veronica expertly placed her hands on the guy's neck and efficiently, and with an ease that came from way too much practice, snapped his beefy neck.

Two minutes later, Veronica had dragged the body back into the room she came from and out of sight. Then she winced as she crouched low to continue her search after her sister.

While Veronica had killed the first of Aaron's hired goons, Aaron himself, along with another hired gunman, were shooting again. Aaron was calling out derogatory comments to anyone else but Logan. Every once in a while, the actor tried to make his son understand how much easier things would be after his friends and the girl in the basement were dead, but judging from Logan's responses, he wasn't feeling the same way.

Veronica killed three more people on her way to Aaron, using one of the silenced guns that one of the men had used. The closer she got to her intended victim the less Veronica tried to cover her tracks, eager to get things over and done with now that she knew where Nicole was being kept.

"Get the girl. We need her to escape in case there's still someone breathing outside," the words froze Veronica in her tracks. She was wide open and the only way for Aaron's last remaining guard to exit the room was into the hallway where she was standing. The trail of bodies behind her suddenly seemed a lot more problematic than just seconds before.

Thinking quickly, Veronica dove to the floor, hiding her much smaller physique under the man she'd killed just minutes earlier. With the half lit hallway and the dark clothing both she and her victim wore, and the blood, Veronica hoped the soon to be arriving gunman would be too shocked to notice her initially.

A shadow fell over her and Veronica held her breath, waiting for a clean shot to take the last one standing between her and Aaron out.

 _Come on, just a bit closer_ , Veronica thought frantically. _There!_

The moment Veronica had fired her gun, she jumped to her feet and ran inside the room where Aaron was. He stood with his eyes widened at the sight of her. And considering she was covered in blood that wasn't hers, Veronica couldn't blame him.

They were holding each other at gun point. Neither of them able to fire the first shot and Veronica desperately tried to come up with a plan. Normally she was an expert in thinking on her feet, but ever since the arrival of Logan and the others, Veronica's sharp mind had been divided, scared that they'd all been killed. _Especially_ considering that they hadn't replied to any of Aaron's taunts in a while.

"You surprise me," Aaron spoke as charmingly as ever, "coming here when I thought you'd fled the town like a good little bitch. I underestimated you."

"Well," Veronica smirked, not letting his mocking words touch her…much anyway, "the bitch is back."

"So what?" Aaron asked, "You're gonna kill me now? I must admit I didn't think you'd dare to get your hands bloody no matter how good at karate you are. But seeing as my hired help aren't here, I guess I must rethink that a bit."

"I was thinking about it, yeah. You get a choice though. Tell me if you've hurt my sister if you want to go quickly. Or else I promise you I'll shoot you in a place where it'll take you a _long_ time to die."

"I don't really think I like either of those choices," Aaron smiled again, making Veronica's trigger finger twitch threateningly. "I guess, I'll just improvise and see what happens. My directors all said that it was one of my biggest talents."

Veronica didn't get a chance to reply, let alone prepare herself, before Aaron fired his gun and started diving for the ragged couch in the middle of the room for cover. Veronica's analytical mind acted out of instinct and she pulled the trigger, hitting the actor in the aforementioned spot that would prove very painful until he finally died two days later.

Hearing the actor grunt as he landed on the floor, Veronica smiled. Then the smile turned into a grimace as the gun in her numb fingers fell to the floor. _Damn it_ , she thought, falling to her knees. _And I wanted to tell Nikki and Dad that I love them. I wanted to tell Dad that I'd much rather be his kid than a secret agent. And…now I'll probably never get to be with Logan…but_ , Veronica's now blue lips twitched as she fell forward, _at least I died for someone special instead of my country like Uncle Jay_ …

Just as everything darkened, Veronica could've sworn she heard her sister scream her name and felt someone catch her before she landed head first on the floor.

**0o0o0**

It was the muttering conversation that woke Veronica up from her deep slumber. She could hear someone, probably a nurse, telling someone that visiting hours were over.

It was Nicole's voice that forced her to open her aching eyelids. "I'm not leaving. Why can't I just sleep in here like I did in the beginning?"

"Because, Miss Mars," the nurse sounded both exasperated and sympathetic at the same time, "you're no longer in any need of medical help. And to be honest, spending all your time next to your sister will not help _you_. You need to be away from here for once. You've been through a lot yourself."

"Listen to her," Veronica croaked out, scaring the two debaters with her sudden awakening, "I'm not going anywhere right away, so go knock yourself out."

"Veronica; you're awake?" Nicole's eyes immediately started to tear up and before the nurse could get a doctor to check over Veronica, the dark-haired twin had climbed carefully up next to her in the bed and kept crying into Veronica's unhurt shoulder.

A few minutes later, Keith came all but running into the room, having apparently been on a food run, judging from the bags in his now trembling hands. He placed all the bags on the empty table by the door and made his way over to his daughters. One hand landed on the crying Nicole, as though he still wasn't too sure if she'd disappear if he wasn't touching her. The other reached out and traced Veronica's face ever so softly, like he feared his touch might break her in half.

"Don't," he said quietly, with bright tear filled eyes that matched Veronica's, " _ever_ do that to me again. I don't think I'll survive."

"I'm sorry." The words weren't as hard to say as Veronica thought. So she said them again.

Keith smiled gently and kissed her forehead. "Don't be. Despite every gruesome detail of that place, you did manage to clear the way for Nicole to get out without getting killed. And if you hadn't called me when you did with the ambulance warning, neither you nor Dick would've survived your injuries."

"What about…?" Veronica didn't want to say the crazy actor's name, but Keith guessed who she meant regardless.

"He died; the doctors weren't able to save him because, and I quote, "they didn't get to him in time," for some reason." Keith didn't explain further, and Veronica didn't want to ask. It was her twin that commented on the death of her kidnapper instead.

"Good," Nicole's voice was muffled from its place of Veronica's shoulder, but it was loud enough and full of rage. "If he wasn't dead, I think I'd have killed him myself."

Veronica chuckled at the thought, but quickly stopped when not even the pain medication could stop the pain from springing to life. "I'd rather hope not. The killer instinct doesn't suit you, Nikki."

"Yeah, about that," Nicole finally emerged from Veronica's shoulder, tearstained and puffy, "you need to tell me all about how you knew how to act like G.I. Jane all of the sudden?"

Veronica shared one quick look with her father, whose expression hadn't hardened at the mention of her abilities, and saw nothing but compassion and support in his eyes. Then she looked at Nicole and smiled enigmatic. "Maybe someday I will, sister of mine. But right now, I'm just too happy to be alive and with the two people that means the most to me."

Nicole beamed and Keith copied Veronica's smile and for the first time ever, Veronica truly felt like she belonged in a family. She didn't want to ruin the moment with all her own questions, like what had happened to Lianne, if Logan was okay (she _really_ worried about that one for some reason), if Keith had managed to cover up the fact that his teenage daughter had killed a lot of people and most importantly; if Back-up was missing her just as much as she missed _him_?

Instead, Veronica leaned backwards and drank in the warm feeling of love around her as she fell into a non dangerous sleep for the first time in what felt like forever. _I can worry about everything else tomorrow_ , she thought; happy in the knowledge that she would wake up and still be a member of the Mars family…

**0o0o0o0**

**TBC…**

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	16. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is here, I hope you enjoyed my little tale. I realize that it needs to be fleshed out more like I did with Reliving the glory days recently, but I just don't have the passion or drive to do so (or the convenient time that being bedridden for three months afforded me last time). Next I'll probably post The Accident as well and then next will be a new VM story, I just need to figure out a full plot line that I'm working on ever so slowly...it'll be a while since I have a Marvel story that I also need to return my attention to. I hope you enjoy my chosen ending and will honor me with a comment and/or kudos. Means the world to me :D

**Epilogue**

"Congratulations, Veronica. Your speech was really good and funny...so that was really funny."

Veronica smiled politely to Wallace's mother, who'd come over to her to congratulate properly after Veronica had finished given her valedictorian speech at her high school graduation. The pretty black woman was not one of Veronica's favorite people; ever since she'd started dating Keith six month earlier, she'd tried a bit too hard to be a part of the Mars twins' lives.

But there was no denying that Alicia Fennel was a sweet person, who truly loved Keith Mars, so Veronica did her best to let her own feelings of childish jealousy stay locked away. Also, Nicole loved the older woman and would probably commit unspeakable evil in retaliation for any hurt Veronica bestowed upon her.

"Thanks, Alicia," Veronica belatedly answered and quickly excused herself to go find her friends, before Wallace arrived. The tall basketball player had developed a bit of a crush on Nicole over the last year, and so spent _way_ too much time around Veronica, trying to get her to help him become Nicole's boyfriend.

Veronica smiled a bit at the thought; _I just hope he only talks to me about his feelings for Nikki. If Weevil ever finds out that he's got the hots for his girlfriend there's bound to be some drama_.

Ever since Nicole's kidnapping, Weevil had been a steady fixture in her life. He'd showed up at the Mars' residence the day Veronica was released from the hospital, spewing some bad line about checking up on her, when in reality, his dark eyes were glued to Nicole.

Normally the biker gang leader would've flirted and been a lot better at saying what he felt than he was that day. Nicole's newfound seriousness seemed to have stumped him a bit, and he'd started repeating himself filled with nerves that everyone could see. Fifteen minutes later, Nicole had shared a bemused look with Veronica and surprised the Latino by taking charge. She walked over to him and kissed him straight on the lips and told him to pick her up for a date the next night.

They hadn't been apart since, becoming one of the most stable couples in the school.

"Yo, V," Weevil's distinctive voice interrupted Veronica's internal reminiscence. She looked over at him, where he was standing next to Nicole and his grandma. "Nanna wants to know if you'll come over tonight and eat your weight in lasagna."

"Do you even have to ask?" Veronica laughed and waved at them, letting them know she was searching for someone else and would return later to chat.

Nicole smiled warmly at her from her place next to her boyfriend and Veronica returned it; their relationship had blossomed into a close friendship and sisterhood. One would never know that they'd only been aware of each other's existence for two years. After Nicole's kidnapping, the dark haired girl had changed from an admittedly spoiled and a bit self-centered girl to a confident, albeit cautious girl that wouldn't let people push her around.

Veronica grinned inwardly when she remembered how her sister had reacted when Weevil's gang had tried to intimidate her. She'd adopted some of Veronica's personality and told the much larger guys off with so much self-assurance that barely anyone had wanted to piss her off ever since.

Except for Weevil's fourth in command, Thumper, who'd refused to stop eying Nicole with a lustful gaze and made spiteful comments whenever Weevil wasn't around to hear it. When Nicole's verbal reprimand (and kick in the crotch one memorable day in the quad at lunch) hadn't had any lasting effect, she turned to Veronica, who discovered that he was dealing drugs on the side and used some of her old skills to make him see reason.

The young drug dealer had left Neptune two days after his 'meeting' with Veronica. Some of his friends still say that he was looking like he had seen a ghost when he was packing up his things; muttering something about getting the hell away from that crazy ass devil.

"Hey Veronica, great speech today. Sure beat the one at my graduation, let me tell you." Lilly Kane popped up out of nowhere, right in front of Veronica, who smiled widely at the sight of the girl that had somehow transformed into one of her closest friends.

"Hey Lils," she greeted and looked around; where Lilly Kane was, her boyfriend was never far behind.

"He's talking to his dad," Lilly had correctly interpreted Veronica's questioning gaze. "Apparently he's trying to get him to stop acting like a condescending _ass_."

"Well, it didn't work," Cassidy Cassablancas' voice suddenly sounded from behind Lilly, where he casually placed his arms around her waist and leaned his head on his long time girlfriend's shoulder, "He still insists that Dick will be back to normal if he just – and I quote, "walks it off," he's such an _idiot_."

"Yeah," the two girls agreed solemnly. When Dick had been shot, the bullet had penetrated his spine and he was now confined to a wheelchair. It had taken the blond teen a lot of therapy to stop hating his life and despite the fact that he couldn't walk; he was pretty much the same mood wise. That was probably one of the reasons why Dick Senior simply refused to get it into his head that his oldest son was permanently tied to the chair.

"Speaking of which, where's Dick wheeled off to?" Veronica asked. To everyone's surprise, Dick and Veronica had developed a warm and deep friendship during their time at the hospital. She gotten to see a side of the goofy blond that he seldom showed to anyone and in return she'd tried her damndest to prevent him from being swallowed by his own bitterness.

His mood had turned a lot better lately, after Mac had finally gotten over her shyness and admitted that she liked him. They'd been dating for two months and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that those two would last – if Dick didn't screw it up by being too immature someday.

"He came over to me and Dad," Cassidy replied, smiling at Veronica, "he ran over Dad's foot and told him to go home to his gold digging wife and stop sucking all the fun out of everything before he disappeared with Mac."

Veronica grinned and thought to herself that it was fortunate that Dick's libido was still able to work. _Otherwise I doubt even I could have saved his spirit_ , she grinned again.

"We gotta get going," Lilly said, lacing her fingers together with Cassidy's. "I promised Donut that I'd take him out for a post graduation coffee. I've invited Meg Manning, so I hope he _finally_ stops mooning over Nikki and starts focusing on a girl that actually likes him. See ya later at the beach, right?"

Veronica nodded an affirmative and watched the couple disappear into the throng of people. Of all the people that Veronica had gotten to know during her time in Neptune; Lilly had probably changed the most. She'd completely turned away from her former slutty self, and to everyone's surprise (of those that hadn't been involved in Nikki's rescue apparently), Lilly had started dating Cassidy during her senior year and despite her now going to college, they were still going strong. And to top it all off, the Kane heiress hadn't had any interest in being queen bee anymore; fully content with her new relationship and her friends to want any high school drama. Madison Sinclair had pretty much cried tears of joy and had loved every second of her new found power after that.

"Hey Honey," Keith's warm greeting brought Veronica out of her thoughts. She chided herself for being so inside her own head today, but quickly smiled at her dad, giving him a brief hug. "You did great out there. Here's a little gift for you." He handed her a white envelope, and Veronica chuckled when he added, "And no, it's not a pony like you said you wanted, but consider it a little help from your old man."

Veronica opened the envelope and pulled out a check. She quickly looked up at Keith, "you're not serious, are you?" The Mars patriarch smiled and nodded.

"I overheard you and Nikki talking about the house you're renting so you can all live together off campus. I wanted to pitch in. I know that the Kane money could've probably bought and built a brand new house for you, but this is my share of it all. And if Jake and Celeste insist on spending money on you guys, tell them to buy some moving people, because I doubt my back can handle all of Nikki's stuff."

Veronica laughed and nodded when Keith excused himself to go find his dark haired daughter to congratulate her as well.

"What are you smiling so beautifully at?" a familiar voice cut through Veronica's dazed mind and her head snapped upwards at the one non related person in the world that Veronica was pretty sure that she couldn't live without.

Logan's hazel eyes were warm as they gazed into hers and Veronica didn't reply. Instead, she walked straight into his waiting arms. He chuckled and put his muscular arms around her with so much tenderness that his old 09'er "friends" still couldn't quite believe it.

The relationship between Logan and Veronica had taken a long time coming; they'd gotten together almost three months after Veronica had returned to school after her injuries. But there was no denying that they were a close couple, they shared so many things between them that they knew there would never be anyone else for them. _And_ , Veronica thought, wrapping her own arms around Logan's waist, _it doesn't hurt that we're great together sexually too_. The young couple had put Veronica's second apartment to good use, until Keith had discovered their whereabouts and their activities and went into full father mode.

For a second, Veronica had wondered whether her dad would actually pull a gun on her boyfriend. Logan made sure never to look the protecting father in the eye after that. He still flinched when Keith moved too fast and without warning. It was quite funny actually considering she was far more dangerous than her father and could probably kill Logan a lot more painfully without even involving any weapons. She wouldn't of course...She really liked him after all.

A small, gentle tug at her ponytail brought Veronica back from her own thoughts once again and she smiled up at her boyfriend. He shook his head, "you seem a bit out of it today. What's up? Sad to see the end of an era? Gonna miss this place and all its day to day drama?"

Rolling her eyes, Veronica stepped away from the hug and crossed her arms, trying to look afraid. "Oh _please,_ don't say that out loud. If anyone hears you say that I might miss high school, I'll be prosecuted without warning. It won't be pretty…"

Logan laughed, but his laughter was cut off abruptly a few moments later, when his mother suddenly showed up next to them. Veronica swallowed a sigh at the cautious look that always came to life in Logan whenever Lynne Echolls was around.

The woman that had stood by most times whenever Aaron's fists had been flying, just to avoid the pain herself. The mother that had drunk her own weight in alcohol to suppress her guilt and had only managed to stay sober after the infamous actor had been buried for a few months; the only person, who'd been out of her mind enough to blame Veronica for Aaron's death.

Veronica had been confronted in the parking lot on her first day back after her hospitalization by a weeping, and _very_ drunk Lynne. She'd screamed profanities and promised to make her life hell for killing her dearly loved husband. Veronica had stood by silently, allowing the confused woman to let out all her rage; it was public knowledge that Veronica had been the one to kill Aaron Echolls, so the other students milling around were busy gossiping at the sight.

Before long, someone had had the presence of mind to locate Logan, who'd had to literally drag his by then sobbing mother away. His face had been beet red with mortification and embarrassment, and the look he wore was screaming his hate toward his mom. He'd had her committed that day and she'd stayed sober ever since that morning. She'd even apologized face to face to Veronica and in a roundabout way thanked her for putting an end to Aaron's existence.

But that didn't mean that Logan had forgiven her; he'd always been bitter over his mother's self-protection and he had never quite forgiven her for allowing him to take punches that were meant for her, while she stood idly by. And when she'd humiliated Veronica, he'd lost every last ounce of respect for her. Lynne hadn't managed to get her son alone to apologize to him yet, and Veronica couldn't quite decide if she wanted to tie him down so he wouldn't run away or allow him his own mind in all of it.

"Logan, hi, Sweetie," Lynne said, a bit timid as her eyes practically swallowed in the quick fading happiness on Logan's handsome face. "You looked great up there today. I even got some photos from when you got your diploma. If you give me your new address, I can send them to you."

Veronica sighed softly, when Logan's cool eyes didn't show any emotions as he stated mercilessly, "Veronica's dad already promised to take pictures for me."

The look of crushed hope on Lynne's face touched something inside Veronica and she tried to distract the coming disaster, hoping that Lynne would know her son enough to not push him on the issue. "So, Lynne, where are you staying? I haven't seen you around town lately."

Smiling with gratitude, Lynne quickly explained," I'm staying with Trina. We're actually shooting a movie together back in New York so that's nice…We've really bonded this year and-"

"That's nice; give my somewhat positive emotions to my lovely sister that didn't bother showing up today. We've got places to be," Logan interjected harshly and grabbed Veronica's wrist and started walking away.

Of course Veronica's past self briefly debated whether to twist his arm and drag him back to his mom and force them to get along, but she managed to beat the impulse down a bit and let her boyfriend take charge. It was his parent after all _. And I can't exactly point fingers and be all judgmental, just look at_ my _mother,_ Veronica thought to herself with an internal smile. She hadn't seen Lianne since returning to Neptune and Keith never mentioned her and Veronica had so little care for her biological mother in her heart that she didn't even bother checking up on her through her contacts.

Logan's good mood returned quickly after he could no longer see Lynne and a few hours later, he and Veronica were sitting on First Beach along with Lilly and Cassidy and Dick and Mac and Weevil and Nicole. Veronica was watching Logan and Weevil joke around with each other, trying to light a bonfire, while Cassidy was doing the actual work to get it lit.

Lilly, Mac, Nicole and Veronica were sitting with Dick on a big sheet watching them goof around with grins on their faces. They talked a bit about the house off campus that Nicole, Veronica and Lilly (plus their boyfriends _off_ the record) would be moving into over the summer. Lilly mentioned that there seemed to be as much drama going on at Hearst as there was in the high school, so Veronica had already begun to plan a little about her on the side detective gig between classes to keep honing her skills.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over Veronica and she looked up, meeting Logan's eyes. He was smiling at her with so much emotion that it was sometimes hard to believe that she'd thought he disliked her once. "Hi," Veronica said and took the hand that Logan reached out to her.

"I wanted to spend some time with you before we go back to Weevil's to eat," he explained as he started walking away from the laughing group of teens behind them.

Veronica nodded, she was always up for some alone time with Logan after all. They intertwined their fingers and slowly walked down to the water. Veronica debated whether or not she should ruin the moment by mentioning Lynne, but decided that being serious could wait till the morning. Instead, she settled for waiting for whatever it was he wanted to say.

"There's something important that I wanted to talk to you about," Logan suddenly blurted out without even looking at her.

Veronica's insides immediately froze up. One part of her was expecting a quick break up and she really wasn't interested in that and the other part of her, which was perhaps even _more_ freaked out, half expected him to pop the big marriage question. The very thought _petrified_ the old agent.

"O-Okay?" Veronica stuttered out, hating that she made it sound like a question. "Talk away, Big Man."

"So…err," Logan still wasn't meeting her eyes and it was seriously putting the nerves back inside of Veronica's over imaginative mind, "I just…You know that we've been together for a while now and err…"

 _Oh my God, he's gonna propose. Abort Mars,_ _ **Abort**_ _!_ Veronica's inner feminist screamed, waving big flags with images of uniform clad females.

"Just say whatever it is you want to say," Veronica demanded, a bit harshly before her stupid mind could formulate a full on plan of escape.

Logan jumped at bit at her tone, but then quickly blurted out, "you know I love you right? And I'm pretty sure I've loved you since you drugged me on this very beach and…Well, that's about it. Let's go back; Cassidy mentioned something about having brought some snacks."

Logan turned tail and all but ran away from a dazed Veronica. Oddly enough she had this little speck of disappointment inside of her because he hadn't proposed; although, her normal non girly self quickly squashed that feeling and focused on the blooming joy inside of her.

It was the first time either of them had used the L-word. Logan and she weren't usually one of those expressive people; their actions tended to count more than words and that's what Veronica preferred. That said she couldn't quite understand that gooey feeling she had internally, that was melting with her own unvoiced love for the boy that was now rummaging through Cassidy's bag for food. He looked over at her briefly and Veronica mouthed the three little words back to him, hoping he'd understand. Judging from the brilliant smirk that lit up his face a second later, Veronica knew she didn't have to worry.

Veronica turned away with heated cheeks a moment later, and looked out at the sparkling ocean in front of her. _It's funny_ , she thought contentedly, _if Uncle Jay hadn't died, things would've been a lot different, but I have this feeling that the eight of us would've still ended up being friends somehow. We fit_.

Veronica raised her head when the sun poked through a cloud and shone down on her face, _I know you wouldn't have believed it if you'd seen it Jay. I'm a normal high school graduate with a boyfriend that loves her now, normal friends and a great father that's doing his damndest to learn all about me. Even the part of me that's not exactly PG-13. It's all so_ normal…

"Ronnie!" Nicole's voice interrupted Veronica's thoughts and she looked back at her grinning twin that was running toward her with a cell phone in her hand. "It's for you. I answered it because I didn't recognize the number, and whoever it is says it's important. When you're done we'll head out to Weevil's. Nanna Navarro has cooked more lasagna than even you and I can consume, or so he says, heh."

Veronica watched her sister run back to her adored Weevil and inwardly she thanked her uncle for making sure the Agency knew about her family situation before he died. If not, who's to say where she'd have been today.

Smiling happily, Veronica finally placed the cell phone to her ear and said, "Veronica here."

"So," a familiar female voice began, "since I helped you out once upon a time, I figure you can help me out in return. I need to infiltrate Hearst to get inside this underground club that's somehow gotten in possession of a Rambaldi artifact that I need. I immediately thought of you…Care to come out of retirement for a bit?"

Veronica grinned; okay so maybe she would never be _completely_ normal – but she'd take what she could get…

"Oh Sydney; I think we can work something out."

**THE END…  
**

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally way back when, I debated whether writing a sequel would be plausible, fusing Alias more into the VM world, but it's been so many years now I'd have to rewatch the show to remember stuff from Alias (aside from Sydney being badass;)). Maybe, I'll eventually finish the one shot I've sort of scribbled on over the years, we'll see...   
> Anyway thanks again and sorry for the mistakes, no beta volunteered sadly.   
> :D

**Author's Note:**

> I was settled on posting this one and then the comments I got on VMMHP pretty much cemented it as not one of you wanted the other option before this one. So... ENJOY!!!


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